Hearts Disguised
by TheAnimeFicWriter
Summary: Yang's life has always been a happy time, but one fateful day comes around and things don't according to her plans. How will she deal with this turn of events?
1. Chapter 1

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 1

A New Step in Life

 **Note:** Here's another new story for you guys. If you really want to know, this will be another Bumblebee story. I have to stick with my roots. I love this ship and I hope to make another good story with these two. However, I must point out something. This is actually the collaboration of me and one my readers. Without him/her, I wouldn't have thought about this so I'd like to give a shout out to _Rusk_. I hope you and everyone else enjoys this story.

Life has taken another big step. Ruby is starting middle school and Yang is starting high school. This is a huge moment in these girls' likes and they have no idea what's in store for them. Their parents have always talked to them about how these steps in life will provide something new for them. Whenever they heard about it, they couldn't help but be filled with joy. They've been waiting so long for this moment and it was finally here. The day where they get to go to middle school and high school.

On the first day of school, Ruby and Yang got up early to make sure that they wouldn't be late. Once when they were done, they ran down stairs to meet up with their parents who were in kitchen preparing breakfast. They didn't notice them at first so Ruby and Yang snuck up behind them and hugged their dad.

"Good morning daddy." He turned around and smile as he picked them both up by the waist and spun them around.

"Good morning. How are my two girls doing?"

"We're great. We're so excited to start school again."

"Haha, you rarely hear that from kids nowadays."

"Alright, you three. Let's calm down. Breakfast is here. Take your seats. We don't want our girls to be late on their first day of school." The three of them quickly took their spots at the table and awaited their food. Their mother set the food down right in front of them and they immediately dug in without a care in the world. She was the only one who ate like a normal human being. The other three were pretty much pigs. Once they were finished, they grabbed their bags and made their way to the front door.

"Alright, we're off."

"Hold it!" Ruby and Yang stopped dead in their tracks right before exiting the house. They turned around slowly to see their father walked towards them. "Did you two forget something?" Yang walked up to her father and stood right in front of him. Out of nowhere, she bumped her right hip against his and then her left one and then hugged him with a smile.

"Bye dad, I'll see you later."

"Alright. Ruby, what about you?" He stuck up his hand and she stared it down with intense concentration. Then, she tried slapping it, but she was too slow. He then stuck up his other hand and she tried the same thing, but it didn't work either. Then, the two of them rubbed their noses together and hugged each other one last time.

"Bye daddy."

"Bye sweety. Don't forget to kiss your mommy goodbye." They ran up to her and kissed her on the cheeks. "Bye," they yelled as they furthered themselves from their house.

"Have a great day girls." Once they were out of sight, the closed the door and hoped for the best.

As they walked to school, they couldn't stop talking about what was going to happen to them. So many new things were going to happen to them that they couldn't even imagine it. All they knew was that things were going to be different, no matter how they thought about it. After a few minutes, they reached a bridge which lead to the middle school that Ruby was attending. They stopped and gave each other one last hug for the road.

"Have a great day, Rubes," she said as she rubbed her head.

"I will. I love you."

"I love you too." After their hug, Ruby broke off and started to run in the direction of the school. Yang waved goodbye, but Ruby was too excited to look back. Yang smiled and continued on her way to her school.

When she got there, she was completely in awe. The school was huge. Tons of kids were walking onto campus. Unfortunately, Yang didn't have any friends who were attending her school so she had to do her best to try and appeal to others. As she made her way through the crowd of students, she couldn't help but feel determined that something was going to happen to her that she would never forget. She walked to the schedule desk where she picked the necessary things for the first day of school. She checked out her textbooks and other things and then she was finally ready. She looked at her schedule to see the list of classes she was taking. Nothing seemed to extreme, except for the fact that the bell rang to go to class and she didn't even know where her classes were.

As quick as she could, she asked around to see if anyone could help, but everyone was too busy weaving through the sea of kids to get to her class. She endlessly turned her head to see if anything could give her a hint. She looked down at her paper and her first classroom read "Petunia 1-A." She then looked back up to see if any of the buildings had the word "Petunia" on it. After a while, she finally found the building with that word on it. She crashed through the door, but was on the complete other side. She quickly ran through the halls until she finally arrived at her classroom. She dived through the door and crashed into the floor.

"Excuse miss, but what are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." She stood up and brushed off the dust from her clothes. "I was just trying to find Petunia 1-A. I am in the right place, right?"

"Yes you are. Please take a seat."

"Of course." Right before she did, she spotted another girl about her age standing next to the teacher. She was beautiful. She had long, black hair and her eyes glowed like nothing she's ever seen before. She didn't realize it, but she was staring at that girl for a while until the teacher had to forcibly guide her to an empty seat.

"Alright, moving along. Class, I would like to introduce to you the Freshman Class President. This is Blake Belladonna." She bowed to the class and everyone clapped.

"I'm looking forward to working with all of you." She lifted her head back up and returned to her seat. As she did, she noticed Yang still looking at her. Yang smiled and waved to her, but she didn't acknowledge her. Immediately, Yang knew that things were going to be a little harder than she thought.

As her first day of school kicked in to high gear, she tried to do everything to make at least one friend. So far, that plan wasn't going too well since the class president totally brushed her off like she was nothing. However, she didn't let that affect her. She continued to try. Lunch was definitely the hardest time of the day for her. Since she didn't know anybody, she didn't know where to go or who to sit by. The whole campus was open during lunch so there was a lot room to wander around. The only bad thing was that Yang didn't know what to do. She heard rumors that freshman always have it the hardest and she was starting to believe in it more and more.

With nowhere to go, she decided to venture through some of the buildings just to get acquainted with them. Her first stop was the Jeff Williams Conservatory of Music. The building was huge and very pretty. On the outside were students practicing their instruments. She couldn't help but smile. She heard rumors that the music program there was really good so she knew this was going to be worth her time. As she walked through the halls, she could hear music from all over, but there was only one thing that caught her attention. She heard a guitar playing in one of the rooms. When she discovered where it was coming from, she didn't hesitate to check it out.

The room from where it was coming from was open so she took a peek. Inside, there was a girl playing her guitar in the corner. At first, she thought she was going to play something heavy since her look indicated that, but she actually played something soothing to the ear. The sound of the guitar was so lovely that Yang found herself leaning against a shelf of cases. Unfortunately, she knocked over a few of them, causing the girl to turn around.

"Uuhhhh… Someone knocked those over. I don't know."

"Who are you?"

"Me? I'm Yang. I'm a freshman."

"Ah, freshman always find their way in this building." She stood up from her stool and walked over to me with her hand out.

"I'm Coco. I'm a junior." Yang eye's got wide. She was actually talking to a junior without being made fun or anything like that. "So how do you like things so far?"

"Um, it's alright. It's a lot scarier than I thought it would be."

"Haha, don't worry. You'll warm up to it soon enough." All of a sudden, the bell rang to get to class. "Well, I gotta go. Maybe I'll see you around some time." She packed up her guitar and headed out. Yang was speechless. She didn't know nice upperclassmen actually existed. It almost felt like a dream.

For the rest of the day, that was all she could think about. She managed to meet one cool person on her first day of school. No matter what, she thought that was a huge success. When school ended, she ran off as fast as she could to meet up with Ruby so they could walk home together.

When they got home, they were welcomed back by their parents, hoping to hear everything about their first day. Right from the start, Ruby was the star of the show. She kept on going about how awesome middle school was. She made a lot of friends and her teachers were all really cool. Unfortunately, this brought Yang down a little bit. It was a little discouraging to hear that her little sister had a more successful day than she did, but she did her best to put on a smile for everyone else.

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Disguised Hearts

Chapter 2

A Slow Start

 **Note:** Here's another update for you guys. If you want to know, I've finally started my journey around the world. Our first stop was in Sequoia National Park. It was simply beautiful. After that, we took a little detour to Las Vegas. All I can say about that city is that people are insane. After that, we headed to Zion National Park in Utah. Now, I'm on my way across the US to visit the East Coast. Wish me luck and I'm wishing all of you the most wonderful days of your lives.

The next day started off just like the previous. Ruby and Yang got up early and enjoyed their morning with their parents before leaving for the day. Before they left, they did their usual goodbye to their dad and their goodbye kiss to their mom. On the way to school. Ruby had a skip in her step while Yang was a little quiet. When they got to the bridge, the two of them said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Her day started off a little different. She managed to get to class on time which was a plus/ she tried to say hi to Blake, but she was still a little cold to her. However, she did manage to look at Yang when she passed by her. Other than that, things were pretty much the same. Her morning classes were pretty boring, but she did her best to pay attention. She didn't want to start off high school as a slacker, but the only thing that really ran through her mind was lunch. She wanted to get to that point in the day because she wanted to visit the music building and hopefully meet up with that girl from yesterday.

Once came around, she quickly grabbed her things and raced to the music building. She made her way through the halls and found herself at the room from yesterday. When she peeked her head into the room, she saw the girl on her guitar. She knocked on the door frame which caused Coco to turn around.

"Hi, may I come in?"

"Sure. I was just finishing up some things." She pulled up a chair next to her and watched her do her thing. Yang didn't anything about music so seeing her work with her guitar was intriguing. "So you make any cool friends yet?" She couldn't help but laugh. Although she made that her goal, it wasn't going too well.

"Um, not really," she said as she scratched the back of her head.

"What? You're kidding me. Making friends is easy in high school. All you gotta do is talk and everything will go from there."

"Okay. You make it seem so easy when you've been in high school for three years already."

"Trust me. I know it sounds hard, but it's a lot easier than it seems. You just have to be confident in what you're doing. Others will see and just feed off of it. The worst thing you could do is strike up a conversation and be completely shy about it." Her comment made me think. As I did, she started to strum her guitar which resonated beautiful sounds. It was so soothing to the ear that I didn't even hear her next question. "How do you like your classes? Anybody catch your attention?"

"Huh? Oh sorry. Wait, what do you mean by attention?"

"I don't know. Does anyone strike as unique or really interesting? Why? Did I make it seem like I was asking you about your love life?" Yang blushed. "Oh come on. We just met. I don't think I have the right to ask something like that of you."

"Well, I guess there is this one person."

"Nice. Have you considered talking to them?"

"I've tried, but it doesn't seem like they want to talk to me."

"Ah, don't worry about that. It's the beginning of the year for you freshman. There are always people like that. Give it some time and they'll come around. Perfect." She smiled as she packed up her guitar in her case.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Could you… Could we meet in here every day for lunch?" She tried her best to stay strong, but she was shaking all. She could feel the sweat run down the side of her face.

"Haha, sure. This place is like my sanctuary so I don't mind staying here. It's official. Here's our lunch room." She stuck out her fist and smiled. At first, she didn't really know what this meant until she had to explain to her. Then Yang bumped her fist against Coco's as lunch came to an end. "Alright, I'll see you later Yang." She walked out of the room and waved goodbye.

After that, she tried to get back to her normal student mode. Yesterday, she was too busy thinking about meeting Coco that she didn't really pay attention in her afternoon classes. When she got there, she was surprised to see Blake in her class again. Like before, she was sitting in the front of the class. Yang tried to find a seat near her, but they were all taken so she was forced to sit near the back.

As she sat in class, her mind was busy. She was thinking about Blake and why she alone interested her so much. It was weird. Out of all the people she's seen in her classes, Blake was the only one that caught her attention. Not even the ones who approached her caught her attention. The only thing she could think about was Blake. Once that class was over, she headed to her next and final class and again, she was surprised to see Blake in that class as well. Unfortunately, there was no time to say anything to her so she was forced to wait until school was over. When the bell finally rang to go home, Yang quickly grabbed her stuff and ran over to her. She had a smile on her face as she stuck out her hand.

"Hi, my name is Yang. I couldn't help but notice that you're in a lot of my classes." Blake slowly looked up to see Yang smiling at her.

"Oh, you're that girl from yesterday that crashed through the door." She grabbed Yang's hand and returned the gesture.

"Haha, that… Yeah, that was me. Thanks for remembering."

"Sure. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get home."

"Right. Sorry for holding you up." Blake gathered her things and walked out of the classroom. In a non-stalkish way, Yang followed her outside and saw her get into a limousine. She was speechless. What kind of high school girls gets into a limousine? It took her a while to fully understand what just happened. Once she was over it, she headed home where she picked up Ruby on the way there. When they got home, the usual thing happened. They were welcomed back as dinner was about to be served.

"So Yang, we didn't really get to hear a lot from you yesterday. How's high school going?"

"Eh, it's alright. I mean, it can't compare to how much fun Ruby's having, but it's going."

"You made any friends?" Yang was a little hesitant to answer that question. She did meet Coco, but was she considered her friend?

"Yeah, a couple."

"Any enemies?"

"Dad!"

"What?! It could happen."

"Well sweety, I'm glad you're hanging in there. High school is tough and especially that transition. Give it a week or so and you'll be wanting to be at school all of the time." Their mother finished handing out the food which made everyone else dig in without a second to waste.

When dinner was over, the four of them went into the living room to enjoy some family time. Their mother was on her usual couch while their father and Ruby wrestled around on the ground. Whenever this happened, Yang got the couch to herself which allowed her to sprawl out like a queen on her throne. They watched a couple of game shows, sport games, and other family things before it was time for Ruby and Yang to head off to bed. The two of them quickly changed into their pajamas and awaited their parents' arrival to send them off the dreamland.

Ruby was first and that always took a long time. Ruby was very jittery at night so it took some time for them to calm her down. Once that was over, they made their way to Yang. With Yang, they simply make sure that there isn't anything she wants to talk about. If everything checks out with them, they kiss her good night and leave to do whatever parents do at night once their kids are asleep. As Yang tried to fall asleep, her door suddenly creaked open. She sat up to see Ruby standing at her door.

"Yang, can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Sure." She pulled up the blanket and allowed Ruby's small body to slip in next to her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to sleep with my big sister."

"Oh Ruby, don't ever grow up."

"I'll never grow up." Yang kissed her on the forehead and hugged her tight.

"Good. I like you this way. Good night."

"Good night."

Before Yang turned in for the night, Blake and Coco returned to her mind. For some reason, the two of them left a mark inside of her head. It wasn't anything bad. It was just that she couldn't stop thinking about them. They were definitely unique and different in their own special ways. All Yang could hope for was that she could get closer and closer to them as people because that's what high schools all about. Surrounding yourself with people who can look after you and be there when they need you. Thinking about that put a smile on her face as she finally put everything to rest and slept away any worries she had.

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 3

A Day of Surprises

 **Note:** Hey everyone. Sorry that this week's been a little weird, but I've finally taken my first steps in Europe. I arrived in Madrid and now spending some time in France. I can't describe how crazy this is. Although this is such a great opportunity for me, I do wish coming back home and giving you guys the normal schedule. If this helps at all, I should be returning mid to late July so things will return to normal by then. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all enjoy.

For the rest of the first week, things started to look up for Yang. She got to spend a lot of time with Coco which made her feel better. She still couldn't believe that an upperclassman was so willing to spend her time with her. They talked about all sorts of things and everything put a smile on Yang's face. On the other hand, Coco actually had a good time as well. She realized that Yang was a pretty chill freshman and that she could put up with her.

Yang also managed to get in a few words with Blake as well. It wasn't anything too special, but she was starting to see Blake slowly warm up to her. Most of the time, it was a simple hi or wave, but for Yang, it was definitely a start. She made it her goal for Blake to know that she was her friend. She put a smile on every time she saw Blake to let her know that she was happy to see her. Although she never showed it, Blake was glad to see Yang in such a good mood. It took her awhile, but Yang's smiled slowly brushed off onto Blake. Everything was going according to plan. At least it was better than her completely ignoring her or hating her for some unknown reason.

When Friday night came around, Ruby and Yang were completely restless. They were satisfied with how things were going at school and couldn't wait for more. Also, their parents had plans to take them the city theme park on Saturday so that made them even more excited.

"Why can't it be Saturday already?!"

"Ruby, calm down. It'll happen. There's no need for you to be so anxious about it."

"I can't help it. It's been so long since we've planned something like this as a family so I can't stop myself." She started to run around the halls, but her father was quick enough to stop before she did anything too crazy. He grabbed her and put her on his lap. "Just breathe. I promise it'll be Saturday soon. The more you think, the slower it'll come."

"Really? Okay, I won't think about it." She sat there and tried to put her mind on something else, but it was too hard. She kept on returning the idea of going to the theme park with everyone. On the other hand, Yang tried to keep it cool. She was definitely excited, but she was able to control herself unlike Ruby. Seeing Ruby like that made it difficult for her to think of something else, but she did her best to not worry about it. Once the night grew late, they took Ruby and Yang up to their rooms and said their good nights. It wasn't an easy night of sleep, but they somehow managed to make it through with plenty of energy left to spare for next day.

…

Right as the sun cleared the horizon, the two of them were up and ready to go. They quickly got ready and ran downstairs to meet up with their parents. When they got to the kitchen, they saw a third person who looked really familiar. It was their Uncle Qrow.

"Uncle Qrow!" He quickly turned around and opened his arms.

"Hey! How are my two favorite nieces doing?" they ran into his arms and he picked them up off the ground.

"We're good. School just started and it's so much fun."

"Oh really? That's awesome. Don't be having too much fun, little lady." He poked Ruby's nose and she laughed.

"So what are you doing here Uncle Qrow?"

"Oh right, about that. You're parents called me early in the morning and said that they were suddenly called into work." All of a sudden, their faces took a drastic shift towards the other side of the spectrum. "They also told me about your plans to go the theme park today. They felt really about this so they asked if I could take you. Luckily, I have no plans today so we can still go." Ruby and Yang squirmed around until they returned to the ground.

"So mommy and daddy aren't coming?"

"I'm sorry Ruby. They wanted to with all of their hearts, but there are certain things we can't control." She dropped her head, but Qrow was there to lift it back up.

"Hey, it'll be alright. There's always a next time. But for now, let's have fun together. I promise I'll make it as fun as it can get." Ruby did her best to put on a smile for Qrow as he grabbed his keys and guided them to his car. It was definitely hard for them to get over this turn of events, but they knew that there wasn't anything they could do. Qrow was their favorite uncle so they knew this was going to be close to what they could have done with their parents.

When they got to the park, it seemed as if all of their worries and doubts just melted away from them. They pressed their faces against the windows as they saw huge rollercoasters and other rides lined up for them. They started to scream out in joy as Qrow found a parking spot as fast as he could. Once that was over, they got out of the car, grabbed his hand, and ran him to the ticket gate. After everything was checked, they ran through the park and started their day full of fun.

Thankfully, Ruby met all of the height requirements so they were able to go on all of the fun rides. Even though some of them were pretty intense, Ruby was in heaven. Everything was so fun and everything was so cool. She nearly lost her voice on the first ride, but Qrow told her to save some for the end of the day. He mentioned to her that she had to tell her parents about all of the fun they were going to have. After that, Ruby managed to dial it down a bit while still keeping the fun at an all-time high.

Yang didn't say much, but she said it all on her face. She had a constant smile on for the entire day. Qrow didn't have to worry about her as much since she was the older one, but it was nice knowing that she was doing alright.

As the fun continued, the three of them took no breaks. They jumped from ride to ride, increasing their efficiency. It wasn't until the sun started to reach the horizon when they decided to call it a day. After their final ride, Ruby and Yang hugged Qrow as tight as they could and thanked him for the fun day. He apologized to them one last time about their parents not being able to come with them, but they were already over it by. He smiled and guided them back to the car.

On the way back, they couldn't stop talking about what they did. They had such a great time even though their parents weren't able to go with them. Qrow was able to keep his promise and they were thankful for it. As they continued to drive, sirens and bright lights started to show from behind their car. Qrow was forced to pull over and let them pass by. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like they were in a huge rush to make through the traffic. Ruby and Yang weren't hyped to notice it. The trip home took a while since there were a lot of emergency vehicles passing them by. It was until they were pulled over multiple times when Ruby and Yang started to take notice. They asked what was happening, but Qrow didn't have an answer for them.

When they pulled into their neighborhood, they saw all of the emergency vehicles that passed them crowding around one house. As they drew closer, Qrow was starting to get worried. Please don't be at their house. Please don't be at their house. That was the only thing popped up in his head, but it didn't prove to help. When they arrived at their house, they medics and policemen swarming their house. Yang didn't know what was happening so she jumped out of the car to see if she could get a better look.

"Yang, get back in the car." It was too late. She was already out and continued to make her way towards the entrance. Qrow tried to catch up with her, but was held back by a policemen.

"This area is off-limits."

"No, you don't understand. This is my brother's house and that's my niece." The policemen turned around to see Yang slowly walking towards the front door.

"Stop that girl!" Out of nowhere, a couple of policemen ran to her and pulled her back. However, that only made her want to get closer. She fought as hard as she could, but she couldn't get through.

"Let me go!"

"You can't go in there." She squirmed and screamed, trying to break free of their grip, but it was impossible. They were too big and too strong for her. When she looked up to see how far she was from the house, she saw a couple of medics carry out two gurneys with sheets over them. There were obviously bodies underneath them, but Yang didn't know what they meant.

In a change of motion, she turned around and headed to the two gurneys. Unfortunately, the people on-scene weren't fast enough to stop her. She walked up next to one of the gurneys and lifted up the sheets to see her mother lying there with eyes closed. She felt her cheek and noticed that it was ice cold. Out of nowhere, a chill was sent through her entire body forcing her to take a step back. Then, Qrow came up from behind her and pulled her away from the gurney.

"I told you not to come out here."

"What's going on?" She was so confused. Qrow had his arms wrapped around her body, but she didn't acknowledge him back. She just stood upright, looking around at everyone else. "Why was my mom on that gurney?" Qrow tightened his grip and closed his eyes.

"Excuse me. Do you know the people who live in this house?" Yang looked up to see two medics standing in front of her.

"Yes, I do. My brother lived here," Qrow said as he turned around. At the same time, Yang jumped in front of him.

"My parents, sister, and I all live here. Why?" They looked at each other and sighed. Then, they knelt down in front of her with looks of sorrow.

"Um, it brings us a great deal of pain to tell you that your parents were killed this evening." Yang's eyes shot wide open as that same chill from before returned once again.

"Killed?"

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

Disguised Hearts

Chapter 4

What Happens to Us?

 **Note:** It may be a Monday, but over here, it's a Tuesday and that means that my trip is over. You guys no longer have to wait any more for a one week only update schedule. As I said in my message a few days ago, you'll get one story every day excluding Saturday. I'm really excited to come back and really sit down and write for you all. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this update and I'll be talking more about my trip and my current stories.

"Killed?"

"We are so sorry you have to hear this." Yang dropped to her knees as a tear rolled down her face. At that same moment, she remembered her parents' smile from the night before. They were so happy. She then brought her hands up to her head and started to scream out in pain.

"Nnnoooooo!" She slammed her head against the ground. Everyone else who was watching backed away. It was too hard to see her suffer like that so they went about their business. After a few moments of being by herself, Ruby came up next to her and placed her hand on her shoulder, hoping that that would do something.

"Yang?" At that moment, she jumped at Ruby and hugged her as tight as she could, still with tears rolling down her face. "It's okay." This was a little easier for Ruby since she was still a little too young to understand the full extent of the situation. She did know something bad happened to them and that things would never be the same. However, she tried to stay calm for Yang. This was what being a little sister meant. She had to be there for Yang whenever she needed her and this was definitely that time.

After a few minutes, Ruby managed to bring Yang onto her feet and Qrow guided them back into his car where he took them back to his house. Luckily, his house wasn't too far away so they weren't forced to be inside of a car during such a tough time. When they arrived at his house, Yang ran in and shut herself in some random room of the house. Ruby and Qrow watched her go off on her own and couldn't help but worry about her. They've never seen her like this. She's always been so cheerful and happy, and seeing her like this made it seem as if she wasn't even the same person they knew.

…

The next day came around rather quietly. Nothing really happened. Qrow got a call from Child Services requesting him and the children to report to court the next weekend. This worried him a lot. He knew what this meant and he was afraid that something bad was going to happen. He agreed to their terms and hung up the phone.

Ruby woke up like normal. She hugged Qrow right as she entered the living room. He consoled her as much as he could, but his main concern was Yang. The last time he saw her was last night when they arrived at his house, and ever since then, he hasn't seen or heard from. Since her door was locked, there was no way to get through to her without applying force to the current situation. The only thing he could do was leave her food outside of her door and ask if she was alright. She never answered, but he could hear her soft breathing. He couldn't pry on her right now. She needed her space so it was best to leave her alone for a while.

Before the weekend came to an end, Qrow went back to their house to pick up some of their personal belongings. He gathered everything they would need that was important to them. He grabbed their clothes, school supplies, and a couple of photos of their family just for keep sake. When he came home and brought back their stuff, he had their picture in his hand which Ruby took immediately. This was when she started to lose it. It was a picture of the four of them together. They all had smiles on their faces and they all looked so happy. Tears started to fall from her face as she fell into his body. He carried her to the couch and tried his best to keep her calm.

With the way things were going, Qrow was now put into a difficult situation. Two young girls who just lost their parents; nothing could get any worse than that.

…

When the next week of school came around, that was the first time Qrow saw Yang for the first time in a while. She got ready, grabbed her things, and made her way to school. She ate nothing and said nothing; she was as quiet as quiet could get.

She arrived on campus as the bell rang to get to class. She made her way to her first period where Blake was already there. Out of nowhere, Blake was the one to say hi first. Unfortunately, Yang didn't respond. She just walked passed her with a depressed look. Blake took notice of this strange behavior and watched her as she walked to the back of the room where she dropped her things.

Hm, she's probably just having a bad day. Everybody has at least one of those. There's nothing to worry about. She turned back around as class was about to start.

When lunch started, Yang didn't go to her usual place. She ended up finding solace in a bathroom where she spent the rest of the day. She didn't come out at all. She was too busy thinking about what happened.

Her house was surrounded by emergency workers. The front door was smashed in. Two gurneys were pulled out of the house. She saw her mom lying on one which only made her assume that her dad was on the other one. She had no memories of any injury or damage to their body which was a good thing. Seeing images of those kind of things would have probably made things worse than they already are for her. She did everything in her power to try and forget about what she saw, but they always came back to haunt her. She would see horrible images of her parents murdered in unideal ways that it made her scream in fear. Then, she would see Ruby across the room all by herself. She would reach out for her, but she would constantly get farther until she couldn't see her anymore. The things she feared the most were coming to life: Her parents being taken away from her and Ruby being alone in such a big world. She didn't want to think about these things, but they were happening unconsciously.

What can I do? Is there _even_ anything I can do?

…

The next day started out with the same events. Blake gave her a friendly hi and good morning, but Yang didn't acknowledge her. That was when Blake started to get curious. The past week, Yang was very sprite and happy, but for some reason, she was acting like a totally different person now. Was there something that was bothering her? She wanted to find out more about it, but class started so she was forced to wait until another opportunity presented itself.

Lunch started with something a little different. Instead of going to see Coco or retreating to the bathroom, Yang simply found a nice spot underneath a tree where she could be left alone. She kept her head down so she wouldn't have to deal with other people. She knew that that went against her plan of meeting new people, but it was necessary if she was going to get better. As she started her train of thought, everything from before found its way back into her mind; the good, the bad, but mostly the bad. Instead of trying to hide herself from it, she simply allowed it to come and see where it would take her. Out of nowhere, a hand was placed on her shoulder which caused her to look up.

"Hey Yang, where have you been? You left me all alone yesterday." All of a sudden, tears started to form up in her eyes. "Oh my God, are you okay?" Coco put down her guitar and sat right next to her. "What's wrong?" She looked her right in the eye.

"Coco," she said softly. "Aaaahhhhhhhh!" She busted into tears as she fell into Coco's arms. At first, she was a little taken by surprise by this, but she quickly got over it. There was obviously something wrong and she needed some human comfort. She wrapped her arms around her body and held her close.

"Sshhh. It's okay. It's okay." She couldn't control herself. The tears were falling like a storm and she was completely lost. She didn't know where she was or what she was doing. All she knew was that she was hurting.

Meanwhile, Blake decided to change things up a bit. Instead of eating at her usual spot on campus, she decided to go on a walk to see if she could find Yang and figure out what was going on. She didn't know why she was doing it. She was just curious. She wandered around all over campus, but couldn't find any trace of Yang. She tried not to get too discouraged since she didn't really mind if she found her or not. After a few minutes, she turned the corner and saw Yang. She took a giant step forward, but immediately stopped dead in her tracks for she another person with her. She was in their arms and they had their arms wrapped around her like a blanket. She hid herself and examined the situation.

At first, it seemed a little strange, but once she got a better handle on what was happening, it all started to make sense. She saw that Yang was crying and that other person was doing their best to comfort. Out of nowhere, Blake had the idea of her showing up before that other person to be there for Yang. But she suddenly shook her and threw away that idea like it was nothing to her.

"Yang, are you okay?"

"No," she said with a shaky voice.

"Don't you think you should go home then?"

"I… can't." Her voice was broken due to the weeping and heavy breathing.

"Why not?"

"I have no home to go to."

"What are you talking about?"

"I have… no home anymore." It was hard to listen to. She didn't want to pry on Yang's personal life, but she did know that something awful happened to her. All she could do was be there for during this time of need.

For the rest of the day, the two of them remained in that spot until Yang finally calmed down. When she did, Coco found it best to just walk her home. Although she said she had no home to go, she guided Coco to Qrow's house which was her temporary living place. Before she left her for the day, Coco asked her one last time if she was alright. Out of nowhere, Yang mustered up all of the strength she could to give her that normal smile she always has on. Unfortunately, it was tainted with nothing but pain and suffering.

…

 _I miss that smile you always gave me._

…

When the weekend came back around, Ruby and Yang got ready to attend their meeting in court. They didn't know what it was going to be about since Qrow wanted to keep them in the dark. On the way there, the car was quiet as everyone looked out the window, hoping to find something that could cheer them up. Unfortunately, nothing was happening. The skies were grey with no ray of sunshine breaching through those heavy clouds.

They blazed through the giant doors to see dozens of people in suits and the judge waiting for them at the stand. The atmosphere was so tense that they could barely breathe.

"Let's begin our order of business." Ruby grabbed Yang's hand as they made their way to their side of the room.

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 5

Separate Ways

They walked down the aisle and to their side of the room. The whole place felt like a massive arena. There was nowhere to hide and nowhere to feel safe. All that was there was each other's hands as they silently took their seat and awaited the news of this tragedy.

"Alright, let's begin. First, we'll go over the terms of Mr. and Mrs. Rose's will, being that they left one." The attorneys and other official people in the room started to rummage through their things to find anything like a will. Unfortunately, they found out that no such will was left so now things would become even worse for the two of them. "Well, in that case, we'll resort to other plans. Is there a guardian here for these two girls?"

"Yes, that's me." Qrow rose to his feet with his hand in the air.

"Perfect. Do you have any plans for these two girls?"

"I do. With their loss, I sought it best to take them in as my own since their father was my brother." At the same time, the attorneys were busy scouring through their papers. This caused the judge to remain silent until they gave him a go-ahead. "Is there a problem with that?" Suddenly, one attorney pulled out a paper and walked it over to the stand. "What's that?" It took a second for the judge to respond since he was too busy reading the paper.

"You said you'd take both of these girls in?" He nodded his head. "Well, this is what the law states. You are allowed to take in a Ms. Ruby Rose as she was your brother's child. The two of you are related by blood so there is no problem with that. Unfortunately, a Ms. Yang Xiao Long cannot be in your care." Qrow slammed his fists on the table.

"What are you talking about? That's absurd. She's my niece."

"I'm sorry. The law clearly states that in the event of a family tragedy where no will is left and children are in play, their care is left up to the closest blood-relative. Yang was her mother's daughter. There is no blood relationship between the two of you." He wanted to fight for her, but he was gradually losing ground. There wasn't much he could do except return to his seat. "With that being said, Yang's care must be established." There was another pause. They were looking through the papers again to help them resolve this problem. After a few minutes, one of the attorneys walked to the stand and handed the judge another piece of paper. "Hm. Judging by the information we have, Yang no longer has any blood relation. If this is true, we have no choice but to take custody of her and deliver to an orphanage home. I'm sincerely sorry." He hit the gavel against the stand. "Case dismissed." Out of nowhere, security guards came into the room and snatched Yang away. When Qrow saw this, he did everything he could to get her back, but everyone else in the room held him back.

"Yang! No!"

"Uncle Qrow!" The two of them stuck their hands out towards each other, but it was no use. They were too far when they took her into the back room. Inside of the room, they placed Yang on a chair and told her to remain there until further instructions were given.

It seemed like an eternity before something happened. Her eyes constantly wandered the room, hoping there would be something in there that could make her feel better. Unfortunately, the whole room smelt like sadness and loss. She was finally starting to realize what was happening and she knew that there wasn't nothing she could do. Her age was a huge hindrance in that she couldn't stand up for herself. All she could do was stand by and be told what to do and when to do it. After a few minutes, the door quickly swung open and in came Ruby full of tears. She ran into Yang's body and wrapped her arms around her.

"Yang, you can't leave me. I need you."

"I know. I can't stand the thought of living without you."

"Can't you just live with us? There's no problem with it, is there?"

"I'm pretty sure there is. If there wasn't, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. It's gonna be okay Ruby. I promise."

"Yang, I know you're lying. Why are you lying?" All of a sudden, Yang felt a jolt in her chest. It was true. She was lying. She didn't know why though. She's never lied to Ruby in her entire life so why was she doing it now? Out of nowhere, tears started to form in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around Ruby and squeezed her tight.

"Ruby, I love you so much. Whatever you do, stay who you are. Don't let anyone change who you are. You're incredible, you're sweet, and anyone would be lucky to encounter you."

"Why are you saying this?" Yang was too busy sniffling, but she tried her best to regain her composure. She took a deep breath and looked Ruby in the eye.

"This is goodbye." Ruby eye's shot wide open as a couple of security guards came in the room and pulled Yang away.

"Yang, don't go!" Ruby tried to chase after her, but the guards were too big for her. She tried to reach for Yang, but it was no use. The longer she tried, the more Yang grew further and further away from her. "Yang… I love you," she said quietly as she finally disappeared from sight.

They didn't know it, but that would probably be the last time they would ever see other… ever.

…

The security guards guided her to a van where it took her to a nearby orphanage thankfully, it was still in the same town so Yang thought about it easy it would be to see Ruby during the school week. When she arrived, she slowly got out of the car and examined the building. Immediately, she could tell that this place wasn't going to be a friendly place. She's heard rumors about places like this, but now, she was going to get an on-hands experience. The guards escorted her inside where there was a lady waiting for her inside.

"Hello young lady, you must Yang. We've been expecting you. Please, come in." From behind, the guard finally took their leave which meant that she was all alone now. She looked around, but there was nothing there for her. She slowly took a step forward and made her way to the lady. "My name is Cathy. I take care of all of the kids here. I'm sure you'll love it here. Come on, let's give you a grand tour of the place."

She guided Yang through the building. Immediately, she knew that this place was going to be horrible. The first place she showed her was the living room. There, everyone was able to hang out and do whatever they wanted. After that were a couple of bedrooms that were decent sizes. Next was the study hall, lunch room, bathrooms, and the rest of the bedrooms.

"So what do you think?" Yang couldn't respond. Nothing about this place made her want to say anything so she remained quiet. "Well, you'll be staying in this room. I also received your paperwork and noticed that you're going to school with a lot of the girls who are staying here. That should make it easier for you to make friends." She looked at Yang who silently walked into the bedroom. "You're stuff should be here soon so make yourself at home. She closed the door behind her and left her alone.

While in the room, Yang looked around and felt out of place. There was no sense of joy in that room. All that was in there was a window that had a view a building right next to it. They were three sets of bunk beds lined up against the wall. She walked over to the beds and tested them out. The first thing that came to her head was that they were cold. The pillows were uncomfortable and it absolutely did not feel like a home. It was more a prison for her. She couldn't believe this was happening.

Once she was sick of being in that room, she decided to wander around on her own. As she looked around, she saw that the whole place was girl's house. Her tour guide forgot to mention that. She made her way to the living room when her head really start to become active. It turned towards the entrance where Cathy was there talking to a scaring looking woman. She was standing as if she was the ruler of the world. Behind her were a couple of bodyguards that looked just as menacing. As she continued to stare, the woman took noticed and removed her sunglasses.

"Did you lose something over here?" Yang was stunned. She quickly ran away in fear. Once she was gone, she put her shades back on and cleared her throat. "So do you have anyone for me?"

"I'm sorry, but we can't keep doing this." She slowly walked up to Cathy and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but you _will_ keep doing this. I keep this place running and you make sure that nothing stupid goes on around here. Just remember that." She turned around as her bodyguards opened up the door for her. "I'll be back soon. Pray you have someone for me." Yang poked her head out just in time to her last sentence.

Who was that woman? Why was she here?

End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 6

A True Friend

Yang's first night there wasn't so great. She tossed and turned for most of the night and when morning came around, it was almost impossible to get out of bed. Her mind felt like it went through a marathon and her body felt like Jell-O. But somehow, she managed to get out of bed and head out for school.

On her way there, she tried to keep an optimistic mind. She was hoping to see Ruby before she headed off to her school. She went down the same route she usually took, but when she got to the bridge, she wasn't there. She looked around, but couldn't find her. Then, she saw a piece of paper taped to the bridge. It was Ruby's handwriting so she ripped it off and read it.

 _Dear Yang,_

 _I really wanted to see you again, but something horrible happened. Uncle Qrow and I were forced to move out of town. I thought I could see you when we split up to go to our schools, but that didn't happen. I just wanted to say that I love you so much. You'll always be my big sister and I hope to see you soon._

 _Love your little rose,_

 _Ruby3_

A tear dropped onto the note as Yang crumpled the paper in her hands. She couldn't believe what was happening. Everything was being taken away from her. She didn't do anything wrong, yet she was being punished. How was this possible? She looked at the paper again and only looked at one thing: Ruby's name.

Ruby… please don't leave me. She couldn't take it anymore. School was not the place she wanted to be at the time so she tried to run back to the orphanage. She kept her head down so no one could see her tears, but before she got too far, she ran into someone and was sent back onto her butt. When she looked up, she was surprised to see Coco.

"Hey Yang, what's going on…" She caught a glimpse of Yang's tears before she turned away in shame. "Hey, what's wrong?" She knelt down in front of her. Suddenly, Yang jumped into her arms and started to cry. Coco was a little surprised by this behavior, but quickly let it go. She wrapped her arms around Yang and tried to calm her down.

"Alright, sshhh. It's alright." Coco picked her up in her arms and carried her to school. However, she carried her to their normal lunch room where she set her down on her normal chair. She then pulled up another chair and sat in front of her. "Just let it out. It's alright." Yang did not hesitate. Her tears continued to fall like rain. Just like last time, Coco stayed there with her until she calmed down. However, this time, Yang mustered up the courage to talk about her troubles.

"Coco, could you hear me out for a few minutes?"

"Of course, that's what I'm here for. What's up?" She took a deep breath before speaking up.

"My parents were recently killed and now I'm forced to live on my own in some orphanage." Yang waited for a response, but there was none. Coco was too in shock to respond to something like that. It's not like people encounter things like this on a normal day basis.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry to hear that. My deepest condolences. I bet they were wonderful people."

"They were," she said as her head dropped to the floor. "They were the best parents any kid could ever ask for." Coco looked at her again and saw tears start to form up again. She had to do something. She grabbed her and brought her into her body.

"It's alright Yang. Everybody goes through things like this. It's just our job to see what kind of person we're shaped into after everything's over."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there's this thing called adversity. Everyone experiences it and it pushed us to be either the best person we could be or someone who doesn't care. I think you can turn this situation into a way of becoming a better, stronger person than you were before."

"But how?" She gently brought her off of her body.

"That's the hardest part. You have to find that out for yourself." Out of nowhere, a smile appeared on Yang's face which made Coco feel a lot better. She wasn't much help last time, but she managed to be of some help this time.

"Thank you, Coco."

"For what?"

"For being so nice to me. I always thought that upperclassmen were jerks to freshmen like me."

"Pssh! That's just a rumor. As long as you don't act like idiot, there's no reason for us to be mean to you." Yang started to laugh. Again, she felt like a weight was lifted off of her as she felt Yang slowly started to leave her troubles behind. "Hey, I've got an idea. I'd feel really bad about making you go back to that orphanage after this so how about you spend the night at my house?" All of a sudden, Yang's face lit up.

"Really?"

"Of course. I think it'll really help you calm down a bit."

"Okay. Where do you live?"

"Oh, I was thinking that you take me to the orphanage so things would be easier on both of us."

"Okay, then I'll meet you here after school."

"Sounds good." The two of the stood up right as the bell to the third period rang.

Just outside, Blake was passing by on her way to the third period when she saw Yang walking out of the building with Coco. Her arm was around Yang as they both had smiles on their faces. Out of nowhere, Blake crumpled up the piece of paper that was in her hand as she watched the two of them walk off together. Immediately after they left, she loosened her grip in question. Why do I feel like this? I don't even know her all that well. And who is that girl that's always with her? Why can't that be me? Suddenly, she stopped her train of thought. Forget about it. None of this means anything. She sighed and looked down, totally forgetting that that was her homework she had crumpled up in her hands.

…

Once school was over, Coco met up with Yang and the two of them headed back to Yang's place. When they got there, she quickly ran to her room and retrieved her things. It only took her a few minutes to come back with all of her things ready. Before they left, Cathy came in and asked Yang where she was going. She told her that she was spending the night at Coco's house. After that, Coco had to sign some papers saying that she would be the one to personally take her home and bring her back. When that was over, she handed Yang over to Coco and the two of them went back to Coco's house.

When they arrived at Coco's house, they stopped before stepping too close to the front door. Coco peered her ears towards the door and could hear her father inside. Instead of walking through the front door, she guided Yang to the side of her house where they climbed it up to her room. When they got inside of the house, Yang couldn't help but ask her what was going on.

"So what was that all about?"

"I'm sorry Yang. My father doesn't like kids so seeing you here wouldn't make things too good for you." Yang gulped.

"Then why'd you bring me here?"

"Because I wanted to help you feel better." Her fear turned to hope in that instant. Coco really was trying to be a nice person to her and she couldn't help but smile.

"Hey Coco, I heard you climb in through your window! Get your ass down here!"

"Um, I need to go, but I'll be right back. Are you hungry or anything? I'll bring you something if you want?"

"Just some water. That would be great."

"Alright. Just hang around, but try not to make too much noise. I'll be back." She quickly left her room.

"Coco, where the hell are you?!"

"I'm right here, you fat ass! What did you want?"

It was a little hard to block out the sounds of the arguing since the both of them were so loud. Yang was actually a little surprised that Coco had this kind of side to her. She thought that she was just a normal girl, but apparently, she had a really aggressive side. Once the sounds of their arguing were put to the back of her head, she decided to explore her room. To no surprise, she had a guitar and bass that both hooked up to an amp. On the walls were posters of Jeff and Casey Williams. Yang didn't know about them too much, but she did know that they were an impressive duo. Other than those things, there wasn't much else in her room. It was a decent sized room so she didn't feel cramped, but she did feel a little awkward being in a place where the father was so neglecting.

After a about an hour or so, Coco came back into her room with a glass of water. She immediately apologized to Yang for not being a good host, but Yang told her not to worry about it. However, she did have something to ask her. She walked up to her and looked her in the eye.

"Would you ever consider having a younger sister?"

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 7

The Only Path to Take

"A younger sister?" Yang looked at her and saw that she had a really surprised look on her face. She knew she crossed the line so there was nothing left to do, but apologize.

"I'm sorry. I know that was stupid of me to ask. Please just try to forget I even asked."

"Haha, it's alright. From what you've told, it's completely understandable and I wish I could, but the way my dad is, that just wouldn't be a good idea for you. Now, if my mom was still alive, then it might be a different story." At that moment, Yang bowed her head in sadness, but immediately, a hand was placed on her head which made her look back up. "Hey, I might not be able to really be an older sister to you, but I can sure by best to be one towards you." A tear fell from her eye as she jumped at Coco and hugged her as tight as she could.

It pained her to see Yang like this. She didn't really understand the full extent of her situation, but she did know that she was hurting. All she could do for her was be the best friend she could be. Unfortunately, there was nothing else she could do. She wasn't 18 yet and having Yang as a sister with her dad was just unsafe. As the night grew late, Yang started to calm down and they were able to get to bed with rested hearts.

When the next morning came around, Coco was the first one to wake up. She got out of bed and silently walked out of her room as to not wake up Yang. She scanned the house to make sure that her dad wasn't home. After it was clear, she walked back up to her room and woke up Yang. Unfortunately, it was still a school day so there was no rest for them. They got ready and made their way to the front door. Right as they opened it, Coco was grabbed from behind and Yang saw that her father was there to stop her before she could leave.

"Aha! I knew you were hiding something form me. How many times have I told you not to keep secrets from me?" Just from the way he talked to Coco, Yang knew that he was a dangerous man.

"Yang, just go on ahead. I'll meet you at school." She wanted to stay, but Coco's eyes and her father's harsh voice told her to leave as soon as possible. Without another word, she grabbed her things and made her way to school.

On the way there, she was busy in her head. What was happening? Why was her father so angry about something like that? Hopefully this wasn't all my fault. While she was thinking, she made her way onto to campus when she was stopped by a random person.

"Oh sorry, I…"

"Yang, right?" This person looked familiar, but Yang couldn't really put her finger on it.

"Yeah. You are…?" They sighed in disappointment.

"I'm Blake. You used to say hi to me every morning." Finally, it clicked.

"Oh right, Blake. You're the class rep. How are you?"

"I'm fine. However, I think the real question is are you alright?" Yang was confused. Why was this girl so interested in her all of a sudden? Out of nowhere, she started to fumble around with her fingers as she looked at the ground. "I'm sorry if that was a sudden question. It's just that those hi's and good mornings were very helpful." At that moment, Yang figured out that her simple hospitalities did not go unnoticed.

"I'm sorry. It's just…" She suddenly stopped her train of thought. She couldn't tell her what was happening. She barely even knew this girl. "I've been feeling really sick lately so things haven't been going pretty well."

"Oh, well how are you feeling now?"

"I'm alright. I'm slowly getting better."

"That's good." With her head still looking down, she started to click her toes against the ground. "Well, I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me today." Yang was caught off guard. This girl was being so open with her. She didn't really much objection to it since she shoes to put interest in her ever since the first day. The only bad thing would be that she would skip lunch with Coco. But then again, it was just one day so it wouldn't hurt.

"Okay, sounds good."

"Really?" Her face suddenly lit up. "Okay you know the cherry blossom tree next the library?" Yang nodded her head. "Meet me there when lunch starts."

"Alright." She smiled and ran to first period as the bell rang to start off the day.

For the rest of her morning classes, Yang was actually kind of excited. She was asked to lunch by someone she didn't really know. It was definitely a start. She was on the path to making more friends, even though Coco was enough of a friend to not make her feel lonely. The morning was pretty hard for her. She was constantly called out by her teachers to pay attention. She would immediately snap back into school mode, but would eventually linger off into her thoughts. She wanted to know why this girl was so interested in her all of a sudden, but she also didn't care. It was obvious that she was doing something right if a stranger asks to hang out for lunch. Once the lunch bell rang, Yang made her way through campus until she saw the tree in sight. Before she arrived, she saw Blake already waiting for her. The wind that was blowing sent cherry blossoms flying through the air. Her long black hair was caught in the wind which nearly took Yang's breath away. There was no way around it. This girl was beautiful. Once she was over her daydreaming, she walked to the tree and sat down next to Blake.

"Hey." For some reason, Blake was caught off guard by her sudden greeting.

"H-Hi!"

"Gosh, this place is beautiful. Do you always eat here?"

"Sometimes." There was a slight gap in their conversation. "So have you adjusted well to high school?"

"Eh, sort of. Things have been difficult." Yang had to take a breather as an image of her parents came up in her head. "But I've been good. I met this really nice upperclassmen and she's been able to show me the ropes. Her name's Coco. Do you know her?" Blake shook her head. "Gosh, she's so awesome. I never knew people could be so nice." Yang kept going on and on about Coco while Blake remained silent. This wasn't really the reason why she wanted to have lunch with her. She wanted to talk about other things, but Yang was relentless and didn't allow Blake to open her mouth. Eventually, time ran out and lunch was over. "Well, this was fun. Let's do it again sometime."

"Yeah," Blake said quietly as she closed her packed up her things.

"Okay, I gotta go." Yang ran off and Blake watched her leave. She couldn't help but feel annoyed. Yang was a very vibrant person and yet, she couldn't say anything to her. She wanted to talk about something more important than Coco, but it was just impossible. She sighed and threw her backpack onto her back as she made her way to her next class.

Once school was over, Yang met up with Coco as it was mandatory for her to take her back to the orphanage. On the way there, Coco was quiet. On the other hand, Yang couldn't stop talking. She talked about how fun it was to spend the night at her house and how she got to have lunch with someone new. All Coco could do was smile and stare at the ground. Was it right to tell her now? Or should I just let it go? After a few minutes, they finally arrived at the orphanage where that same woman from before was at the front desk.

"Great. You guys made it back. Thank you for bringing her back."

"Ah, well, thank you for letting me have host her for a day."

"Hey Coco, thank you. I really needed that."

"No problem Yang."

"Let's do it again sometime." A smile appeared on her face, but Coco couldn't return the favor. Something else was going on in her head which forced her to be in pain. She couldn't tell her. How could she? She looked so happy.

"Yeah, we'll definitely try. See ya."

"Bye." Coco turned around and walked out with a troubling mind. It wasn't right what she was doing, but there was nothing else she could have done. Her days of being a good friend were over.

Meanwhile, that woman stared at Yang as she made her way to her room to unpack. She put her fingers on her chin and started to ponder the thought.

"Hey Cathy, who is that young lady? Why have I only seen her around recently?"

"She's… She just got in. Something terrible happened to her family and now, this is the only place that's left for her. The poor thing."

"Yeah. Poor thing."

…

The next day started with a skip in her step. For some reason, Yang was feeling much more chipper than she has been feeling. She quickly got ready and made her way to school in a quick fashion. When she arrived at her first period, she said good morning to Blake and Blake immediately smiled, returning the kind gesture back to her. Again, Blake couldn't muster up the courage to say anything to her. She just didn't know why. Once the morning classes were over, Yang ran to the music building and busted through the door where her Coco usually eat lunch. Unfortunately, no one was in there. All there that was in there were two chairs and one note that was sitting all by itself.

Another note?

End of Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 8

A Broken Heart

 **Note:** I hope you're all enjoying this story. Here's another update for you all. I'm sorry that it's not as long as you all hoped, but things will get better in the near future. I'm just setting up the story for you guys. After this is when things start to get really interesting.

Why was there another note that I had to read? Yang was so hesitant walking into the room. Seeing two empty chairs and an ominous note was a horrible sight. She was wondering where Coco was or why there was a note there. She dropped her things next to the chair and picked the note slowly. She took a deep breath and opened it up.

 _I'm sorry I have to do this to you. I wanted to tell you in person, but you weren't here yesterday so I guess this was the only way I could tell you. My father and I packed up and moved away. I don't know where or why, but I do that he was furious. I'm sorry that you had to find out this way, but there was nothing I could do. My father isn't the type of person that can be influenced by words. I just want to say sorry. I wish I could be there to help you out and be your friend, but that just won't happen. However, I'm sure you'll be fine. You're a great person and I'm sure you'll alright. Good luck._

 _Your Friend,_

 _Coco_

Yang let go of the note and watched it float to the ground. Right as it touched the floor, a tear hit it as Yang fell to her knees. It was impossible to let her true feelings, but the tears weren't going to stop. It was happening again. Another note about someone being taken away from her. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. These kind of things weren't supposed to be happening to her. She never did anything wrong. She want to do anything wrong and yet, she felt like she was being punished. She suddenly grabbed her bag and stormed out.

As she did, she somehow bumped into Blake. The two of them were knocked to the ground, but Yang didn't pay attention to it. She just got up quickly and ran off. On the other hand, Blake saw her tears fall to the ground and knew that something was wrong. She tried grabbing her things off the ground as fast as she could, but by the time she looked up, Yang was already gone. She stood up slowly and was completely confused.

There's something going on with that girl.

Completely disregarding school, Yang made it off of campus and headed into the city where she found herself dying off in a park. She collapsed under a tree and pressed her hands against her head. She kept thinking about what's been going on and what might have caused her to have to go through such horrible things. She never did anything wrong and yet, things were happening to her that she couldn't explain.

She's lost her parents. Her little sister was taken away from her. And now, her only friend was no longer attending her school. What else was there to take? She looked up towards the sky and screamed as loud as she could. She was so confused and so hurt. Nothing made sense anymore. She suddenly grabbed her things and stood up like a zombie as she made her way back to the orphanage. She creeped her head through the door and saw that Cathy wasn't there. Once it was clear, she headed to her room was she locked the door behind her and stared at herself in the mirror.

Is there something wrong with me? Did I do something to cause all of this? I don't think I did, but then again, I'm probably looking at things from my own point of view. Maybe that's my problem. I'm only thinking of myself and not anyone else. That thought remained her head for a long time as she continued to think about it. She was being selfish. Selfishness is a part of everyone, but maybe it was just a little dominant in her life. Suddenly, a conflicting thought entered her mind.

Maybe things are just meant to be this way. I'm pretty sure that I've done nothing wrong. Sometimes, innocent people are punished for no reason. Maybe I'm one of those people. Maybe I'm just meant to be punished. I guess there's nothing I can do.

After about an hour of staring at the mirror, she made her way back to her bed where she sat down and stared at the ground. Time went by as the building started to fill up with other girls' voices as school was finally over for the day. However, Yang decided to stay in her room. When dinner was called, she remained in her room and continued to stare at the ground. Eventually Cathy came knocking, but Yang didn't answer. With the lights off and as night seasoned, the darkness started to surround her until she was completely blind except for the small light from the moon. That's when she finally moved.

She got up from her bed and walked over to the window. She looked up at the moon and for some reason, it felt like it was staring right at her. It wasn't a pleasant feeling and after only a few seconds, she hid from the window and collapsed to her knees. At that moment, tears started to escape her eyes as she couldn't hold it in any longer. She screamed out in pain and pressed her hands against her eyes.

"What is wrong with me?! What did I ever do?!" Her whole body fell onto the floor and drowned in her own tears. Time went on like it usually does until the night was late and everyone was finally asleep. By that time, Yang finally calmed down and stood up, wiping her swollen eyes. At that moment, she knew what to do. I can't stay here anymore.

She quickly walked over to her bed and pulled out her bag. She started to pack everything she had into the small bag. Everything inside of her told her that this was the right thing to do. Nothing there offered anything to her so it was just a waste to be there. If she want missing, she didn't care. She just assumed it would be part of the list of punishments she would go through. She continued to pack her things until the last thing that was left was a picture of her and her once family. She examined the picture carefully and saw that everyone was smiling and happy. She gripped the picture frame tightly and threw against the wall, shattering it to pieces.

"I don't need you anymore. That'll never happen, and I don't need to be reminded of what used to be. The past is passed so I'm done with you." She threw the bag over her shoulder and walked over to the window where she slid it open. Without even looking back, she jumped out of the building and went to find somewhere to live. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew that wherever she was going, it would be better than where she was now. She was alone. She knew it and she was prepared to live out the rest of her life the darkness she knew now as her life.

End of Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 9

There is Only One

Yang set out on a new chapter of her life without a single plan or thought. She had no money, nowhere to go, and no idea what she should do. The only thing she knew was that anything could be better than what she was given after everything that has happened to her. She passed by multiple motels, but knew that it wouldn't help. Without money, there would be no use. She also passed a few restaurants, but immediately turned her head. She hadn't eaten in a while so being reminded of food wasn't something she wanted in her head.

She wandered around aimlessly until she started to lose strength in her legs. She started to stumble around and knew that she had to find some place to kick back for a while. She searched in every alley way, but there was nowhere she could stay. It wasn't until she came across a bridge that overlooked a small river where she found a place. She made sure no one was watching when she headed down underneath the bridge. Once there, there was a couch right where the bottom of the bridge and ramp met. This would have to do for now, she thought. She dropped her bag on the ground and sat on it awkwardly.

I can't complain. This is still better than some of the other things that have happened to me. I just have to close my eyes and calm down. Things aren't going to get better and I need to start realizing that. She took a deep breath and collapsed on the couch where she managed to spend the rest of her night there. It wasn't anything special and she knew that. However, in order to face the cruel reality of her life, she would have to get used to things like this. The more she thought, the more she truly believed that her life wasn't going to get any better.

…

The next morning at the orphanage, the door slammed open to reveal the strange woman and her group of guards. She walked in with those same pair of shades as Cathy grew nervous in her presence. She looked around ominously and then removed her shades.

"I've been thinking. There is someone who has caught my attention: That blonde girl. Where is she? I would like to have a word with her."

"She's right this way." Without wasting any time, she guided the woman down the hall to Yang's room. She knocked on the door to see if she was awake. There was no response so she knocked again.

"Yang, open up please. There's someone here who would like to speak with you." Again, there was no response so Cathy turned her head and looked at the woman.

"I'm sorry. She's been acting kind of strange lately so I don't know if bothering her this early in the day would be good."

"Cathy," she placed her hand on her shoulder, "does it look I care if it's good for her or not." She took a big gulp and without saying another word, she pulled out the master key and opened the door. Right as it swung open, the two of them were shocked, but the strange woman didn't allow it to show on her face. They walked in slowly and looked around the room.

"Oh my God, where is she?"

"Yes. Where is she?"

"I… I don't know. She was in here last night when I asked for to join us for dinner. I don't know what happened." At that moment, the woman placed her fingers on her forehead and sighed.

"Oh boy, what to do? What to do?"

"Ms. Fall, I'm terribly sorry. I will do everything in my power to try and find her again. Please. I promise I won't let you down this time." She suddenly turned around to examine the room again. When she did, she saw a picture frame on the ground with a few shards of glass around it. She carefully picked it up off the ground and turned it around. At that moment, her eyes widened as she looked at the picture. After a few seconds, she stood back up, keeping the picture out of sight, and walked to the exit of the room.

"I don't need your services anymore. You've disappointed me too often. I'm shutting this place down." She put on her shades and headed towards her car.

"No, please. You can't do this. These girls have nowhere to go. If you do this, they'll be put on the streets."

"Thank you again, for wasting my time." She busted through the door as her guards slammed the door shut behind them. When she got to her car, she brought out the picture and looked at only one person: Yang.

"Ms. Fall, what did you find?"

"A clue. Gather some of my men and start a search for this girl. However, try not to make it a big deal. I don't want this getting out." She showed them the picture of Yang and her family and immediately got in her car and departed for her next location. As she drove off, she couldn't help but let out a smile.

…

Back with Yang, she decided to skip out on school. For the time being, there was no need for her to go. It would just remind her too much of what she's lost. With more free time, she knew she had to come up with something for she wouldn't last long without money and food. She sneakily climbed out of her hiding place and went into the city. By acting inconspicuous, she was able to hide herself and analyze the behavior of the people around her. Her priority was money. There was no savings account for her so the only way to get money was by stealing it.

It took her awhile since she had to make sure that she was spotless on her execution. She looked for the right people to steal from, how to steal from them, and when to do it. Surprisingly, she was going about this very intelligently. She wanted to make sure that nothing was left to chance so once she knew she was ready, she executed her plan.

She found a man in a business suit visit a local ATM and withdraw some cash. Luckily, he was careless about his money and ended up shoving it in his back pocket. That's when she knew that he would be her target. She followed behind him and waited until he stopped in a crowded area. Once he did, she was quick as a flash and managed to get away with ten bucks without him or anyone else figuring out. After scoring her first job, she quickly ran back to her hiding spot and stared at the ten dollar bill.

That was the first time she had ever stolen, yet she didn't feel anything about it. In a way, it almost felt good for her. It was almost as if she was doing something useful with her life. All that was left was to figure out how to budget herself. She knew that if she constantly pickpocketed people she would get caught so she spent some of her time figuring out what she should do. One meal a day could probably get her by as long as she stole a reasonable amount every so often. Other than that, there was no concern. Clothes and other fruitful things for a girl were not on her priority list so she was set.

When day grew late, she emerged from her hiding spot and went to find the cheapest restaurant. Luckily, there were tons of fast food places around the city so she made her way into one and acted as normal as could be. Apparently, Yang was a genius because she knew how to act although she was young and all by herself. No one questioned her and she managed to get by without any suspicion. When she got her food, she quickly dug in and finished in up in just a few seconds. That was the first meal she had had in a long time and it felt good. Although she finished it in a rush, she savored every bite until there was nothing left. After her dinner, she sneakily made her way back to her hiding spot and relaxed for the rest of the day.

"I never knew I was so good at this stuff. I think I can do this. I don't need anyone's help. I can manage things in my own. Yang Xiao Long is no longer a little girl. Yang Xiao Long is now an independent woman." She lied down on the couch and slept the night away without a care in the world.

End of Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 10

On My Own

As things began to change, Yang no longer went to school. Without a home to call her own, she never received anything from the school wondering where she was. She was no longer connected to that place and she no longer wanted to be affiliated with it. On the other hand, there was one person who still wanted to see her, but there was no way that that she would be seen again. She was a ghost now. She wanted things to be this way and she knew that this was the only thing she could do.

Yang slowly gained more and more money without getting caught. With all of her success, she started to think she was going to be well off. She budgeted herself as to not be suspicious since she only worked on area of town. When she got low, she gained more and made sure she was smart with her cash. She had no help so money was her best friend… It was her only friend.

The only concern for her was the police. Since she didn't go to school, the middle of the day was a dangerous time. Police were on the watch for students who were out of school. Without a legal guardian, being caught by the cops was an undesirable thing so she stayed low until the weekend.

When the weekend finally came around, she was finally ready to execute another part of her plan. She was low on money so she was determined to make a high score. Most of the people she had her eyes on were big business people so they obviously had money on them. She carefully watched until it was finally the time to have her way with them. She greatly increased her fast hands so it was almost impossible for them to realize it. Once she succeeded, she slowly made her way away from the scene and examined her score.

"Dang! $200. This could get me through a lot for a while. I still need to be smart about it." She shoved the money in her pocket and walked back into the street with a smile on her face. Immediately, she ran into someone and fell to the ground.

"Ow!"

"Oh man, sorry, I didn't see…" She stopped her words with a shocked look on her face. "Blake?"

"Yang? What are you doing here?" She didn't answer. She didn't know how to answer. "It's been so long. Why haven't you been at school?" At that moment, she stood up and ran off. Thinking on her feet, Blake got up and ran after her. "Yang, wait!"

"I can't," she whispered to herself. She continued to run without knowing that Blake was still behind her.

Yang eventually turned a corner and ran into an alleyway. She then looked back and saw that she was longer behind her. But after a few seconds, she was tackled from the side and knocked to the ground. It was Blake.

"Yang, I want to talk to you."

"I'm sorry, but I can't… I don't want to talk. There's nothing I need to say." Blake's face changed dramatically.

"What are you talking about?" Yang sat up and pushed her off of her body.

"I don't have anything to say. I think you should leave."

"But I can't. I'm worried about you." Yang's face lit up slightly.

"Worried? What are you talking about?"

"You haven't shown up to school for a long time so I was wondering if you were alright."

"I'm fine. There's no need to worry about me. I'm fine." She turned around and pretty much gave her the cold shoulder. But yet, she didn't back down. Blake was determined to break her shell, but there was no way that that was possible.

"You know, there's something I wanted to tell you." Blake waited for some kind of response, but Yang was silent. "I miss you. Seeing you every day made me feel really good, but then when things happened, you started to change and that happiness turned to sadness. I guess what In trying to say is that I…" Blake gained so much momentum in her speech, but she suddenly chocked up at the end of that sentence. "I…" Yang turned around.

"You what?" Blake bowed her head with a red face.

"I… I want you to come back to school."

"I can't. There's nothing there for me. I'm sorry, but it's not worth it. I'm on my own now. Goodbye." Yang turned around again and ran off, but this time, Blake didn't follow her. She just watched her leave in silence.

"I… I think I love you." She looked up one last time and Yang was already gone. She sighed and headed back home. She exited the alleyway and noticed that a man inside a black car was staring at her with a mean look on his face. She averted her eyes and kept on going. He continued to watch Blake until her received a call.

"Have you guys found anything yet?" Inside of the car, the man picked up his radio and answer the call.

"I think I got something. Just give me a little more time to confirm this."

"Alright. I want everyone else on the scene just in case things go down." Everyone on the radio confirmed the order as things went silent once more.

Yang continued to wander around town. She scoped out numerous people for her next target, but she couldn't decide. There were so many people there who looked very official and she couldn't choose who to target. Men and women were all in business suits which made them look even more official. She stayed in the background until she decided to go after someone else. She had no reason to go after someone else, but it was probably because of her encounter with Blake. Being reminded of school motivated her to be more secure with money just so that things would feel more comfortable. Her next target was another man in a business suit. He had glasses on, but looked pretty intimidating. However, she couldn't let this affect her. She had to set her mind on it and follow through to the end.

As she started to watch his moves, he turned into an alleyway. This immediately caused her to shy away. It was almost impossible to steal money from a person in a very secluded place. Everyone else who she had her eyes on were already gone so she had to go through with this. She followed not far behind him and then peeked around the corner. When she did, she saw that he disappeared. She slowly walked into the alleyway and tried to find out where he was. She looked around every nook and cranny, but he was nowhere to be found. She walked further into the alley until the street was no longer in sight.

"Why hello little lady." Yang suddenly turned around to see the man she was following behind her. "What are you doing in a place like this?" She didn't answer. "If you think I'm oblivious, you've got another thing coming. I know you've been following me." Yang's eyes shot wide open.

"N-No I wasn't." He took a step towards her.

"Yes you were." Yang turned around and tried to escape, but another man in a suit appeared behind her. He had the same look of danger as the other man.

"You got nowhere to go." The men started to surround her. She quickly looked around as she was cornered. There was only one way out so she was determined to make that escape. One of the guys pulled out his phone and attempted to make a call. That's when Yang made her move. With one of them distracted, she ran for the opening and got out without a scratch.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Calling the boss." He waited until the other end picked up. "Boss, you there? We got her."

"Don't let her get away. The other men are making their way to you. I will be there as well." The phone immediately hung up and the two men started the chase.

Yang was fast, but as she continued to run, she saw more and more men in suits start to follow her. She didn't know why this was happening, but she did know that she had to get away from them. Turn after turn, street after street, Yang did her best to try and get out of sight, but it was no use. Her last resort was her normal hiding place so she took a couple of detours and sneakily retreated to her "home." She turned her head frantically and saw that she finally lost them. She sat down on the couch and took a deep breath.

"What the hell was that?" She thought she executed her plan perfectly, but that apparently wasn't true. A large group of men was after her and she knew she was in danger. She stayed quiet and didn't move for a solid minute until she thought the heat finally died down. Unfortunately, it did not. The men made their way down to where she was and surrounded her.

"Did you think you'd get away?" She stood up and saw that all of her exits were cut off.

"What do you want with me?"

"It's not what we want." They gathered even closer to her until they were about arm's length away. Most of them tried reaching out to her, but a voice broke through the air that caused everyone but Yang to freeze in fear.

"Don't touch her!" For some reason, that voice seemed really familiar, but everyone stood still as the person with that voice made their way down to where they were. "My orders were to find her and keep her until I showed up. What is this I'm witnessing?" Yang widened her eyes. She knew this person.

"Ms. Fall, it isn't what it looks like…" Out of nowhere, she pulled out a gun and shot one of her men in the head. His body hit the ground hard as Yang was speechless. All of the men backed up as the woman made her way closer to Yang."

"Why hello there, Yang."

End of Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 11

What is Your Answer?

 **Note:** Hey everyone, I hope you're enjoying the story. I hope you all had a great summer. As for me, summer was alright. With everything coming back to normal, I'll be able to focus more on my writing. So I hope you enjoy this update and more to come.

"Why hello there, Yang. You know who am I, yes?" Yang was too scared to answer. She just backed away slowly. "Oh, there's no need to be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you. I've actually taken an interest in you and I've been searching for you for a long time." All Yang could do was take a big gulp.

"H-How do you know me?"

"You don't recognize me?" She shook her head nervously. "We met back at that horrible orphanage. I'm just glad I got to see you away from there." She examined Yang's face and noticed that she was starting to slip away. "Anyway, I've come to get you."

"Get me? W-What are you saying?"

"I've come to offer you a home." At that moment, Yang's face lit up. "How does that sound?" Yang was simply speechless. She didn't know what to say. At that moment, the woman took some another step towards her and knelt down in front of her. "My name is Cinder. I know I may not seem like the guardian type, but I can promise that I can give you what you want most: A place to call your home." Out of nowhere, tears fell from Yang's eyes and she jumped into Cinder's body. She bawled without restraint and Cinder wrapped her arms around her to try and calm her down. "It's alright. Just let it out." Her crying continued for quite some time until everything slowly calmed down.

"So… Can I come home with you," she asked as she pulled away to look her in the eyes.

"Of course you can." The two of them stood up as Cinder wrapped her arm around Yang's shoulder. "You two, grab her stuff." Without saying anything, they followed her command as they headed towards the car. They got in and they quickly drove off.

In the car, Yang felt like it was Christmas. The car drove through town as if she was some kind of celebrity. It's definitely been a while since she's been in a car so this feeling was kind of new to her. There were no stops at all. The car kept on going until it finally reached its destination. Yang poked her head out of the window and saw a huge house surrounded by those typical walls that every rich person had around their house. The car pulled up to the front door and one of her guards opened up the door. Everything looked so big that Yang couldn't even speak.

"Well, don't be shy, go on in." Yang turned around and saw her approval. Without wasting any time, she ran towards the door and pushed on through to a huge entrance hall. There was a giant chandelier hanging on the ceiling and there was so much room to walk around. Yang skipped around the main entrance, taking in everything as it came to her.

"This is incredible." Cinder smiled.

"I had a feeling you would like it. Come on, I'll give you a tour of the place." Out of nowhere, Cinder grabbed Yang's hand and guided her through the house. Surprisingly, her hands was very warm, almost to the point of comforting. She did a good job of making Yang forget about how she killed one of her guards so easily in front of her.

The door started out strong and continued that way for the entire time. There were so many rooms and Cinder told her that nothing was off-limits to her which was a little surprising since some of the rooms looked pretty important, but Yang didn't argue. She was in no position to anyway. After a while, they arrived at Cinder's room, but she didn't go inside. She told Yang that this was one place where she was not allowed inside. Yang totally understood since it was her room. More rooms were shown to her and yang started to get the feeling that she would get lost in this place. She needed a map to this labyrinth.

As they finished up the tour, there was one last place and it was another bedroom. They didn't go inside which was kind of odd. However, Cinder stressed that this was another room that she wasn't allowed in. Yang didn't question, but wanted to with all of her heart. This woman was being so nice to her and yet, there were some restrictions. It just didn't seem to match up.

"Excuse me, Ms. Fall." She turned around to see one of her butlers waiting for her. "Your tea is ready."

"Thank you. Yang, would you like anything to drink?"

"Um, can I have some hot chocolate?" Cinder laughed softly to herself.

"There's no need to shy about it. Could you whip her up some hot chocolate?"

"Of course madam." He bowed and left their presence. Yang was in awe yet again. She knew about how rich people lived, but seeing it in real life was just something else. Her butlers was so proper and she treated him so generously. The longer she spent time in this house, the more she was starting to like it.

The two of them headed back downstairs and into the dining room where there were two cups sitting all alone. One of them was Cinder's tea and the other was Yang's hot chocolate. They sat down next to each other and sipped their drinks.

"Oh my gosh! This is incredible!"

"Is it? I'm glad you like it." Yang wasted no time in drinking her drink Cinder took another sip and turned her chair to face Yang. "Okay Yang, it's time to get serious."

"Huh?" She turned her head to see Cinder looking right at her.

"I'm willing to take you in, but I have one condition." She paused for a second. "I can't be your mother and you can't be my daughter." Yang was confused. "My job prevents me from fulfilling that family role, but I can promise to protect you. By you living with me, my guards are your guards. They'll sacrifice everything for you. That is a promise. You won't need to be sad anymore. You can start your life all over again." This was exactly what yang wanted to hear. Tears immediately filled her eyes as she leapt into Cinder's arms. "Do we have a deal?"

"Yes. Thank you! Thank you so much!" Cinder returned the hug as the two of them remained in that position for quite some time. For Yang, it felt like it's been so long since she's felt this sense of safety and security. However, this woman was proving to be the perfect image of it so she couldn't argue with it. After a few minutes together, Yang finally broke their hug and resumed looking at Cinder.

"May I make a request?"

"Sure, go right ahead."

"I don't want to go back to school. Is it alright if I don't?" Cinder couldn't help but smile at this little request.

"Of course you don't have to. School is optional and if you don't feel the desire to go back, I'm not going to force you. However, if that's how you want things to be, I'm not going to let you lazily spend your time around this house. You'll have to do some chores."

"Of course. Anything, but school."

"Perfect. During the weeks, I'm mostly gone during the day so I'll leave a note for you." She stood up from her chair. "Let's show you to your room." she guided Yang to a room not too far away. When she walked inside, she saw that the room was already prepared for her. The bed and everything were perfect. She ran to the closet and saw that her clothes were hung up and everything. She then jumped on the bed and immediately melted into its softness. It's been so long since she's slept on a bed. "How is it?"

"I love it."

"Good. All I ask is that you obey the rules I've laid out for you. You do that, and you'll absolutely love it here. I can guarantee it." Yang smiled. On the inside, there was a sense of recollection in her heart. It felt almost as if she was in the presence of her parent's. This feeling was sweet, comfortable, and everything else relating to a family. Obviously, there wasn't much of a family going on here, but Yang thought that this could be the start of something.

End of Chapter 11


	12. Chapter 12

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 12

A New Day, A New Life

 **Note:** I've been noticing that a lot of people have been asking a lot of questions. Personally, I think that shows that I'm doing a good job. I think I should point out that this may be my most complex story ever so it may take a while before any of your questions are answered. With that being said, I hope you all stick around for what's to come and I hope you enjoy the update.

Last night was the first night Yang was able to go to sleep with ease. The bed she slept on was very comfortable and having a real roof over her head with real blankets on and everything was almost unreal. She spent some time awake just idolizing how incredible this turn of events was. She's had nothing but bad luck all of this time and now, she finally had something going for her. Once she was done with her little fantasy, she turned in for the night until the morning sun awoke her from her slumber. She quickly jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs. As she did, she saw Cinder making her way out of the house.

"Cinder!" She jumped from the stair and landed on the bottom floor. Cinder stopped midway through the door way and acknowledged Yang's presence.

"Wow, you're up early today." Yang nodded her head. "Well, I can't stay long. If you're hungry, you can head over to the kitchen. Someone will be there to help you out. Your lists of chores is on that table. Make sure to do those okay?"

"Aye," she said with a salute. On the other hand, Cinder couldn't help but smile.

"Alright, I'll be on my way. Bye."

"Bye. Have a nice day!" The front door closed with a loud slam as Yang was left alone in that huge mansion. She scanned the area and some of Cinder's bodyguards clear the main entrance hall. Once she was done with that, she walked over to the table and picked up the paper that had her chores for the day. Thankfully, it wasn't anything too crazy. She had clean the dining room, guest bathroom on the first floor, and one other thing that was a little strange for a chore. Cinder asked her to make her room as much her as possible. She was a little taken by surprise by that chore, but didn't argue.

First, she began with the dining room. On the paper, it told her where all of the supplies she would need were located. She grabbed a duster and vacuum and quickly got to work. That room was pretty big so it took quite a while. There was one large table and a whole bunch of chairs placed around it. That could only mean that Cinder was a party hostess. Slowly but surely, Yang cleaned the room and every corner of it.

Next was the bathroom. This room was a lot smaller so she didn't have much to worry about. She scrubbed the floor of the shower, washed the sink, and vacuumed the floor to completion. When she looked at the clock, she saw that those two things only took her about 3 hours. She smiled and immediately headed into the kitchen where an official looking chef was waiting for her.

"Good afternoon miss, are you hungry?" She put her hands on her stomach as a loud growl filled the room.

"You betcha!" The chef couldn't hide his little smile.

"What would you like to eat? Name it and I'll make it." At that moment, Yang's eyes shot wide open as her mouth started to drool.

"Oh my gosh, I'm in heaven!" It took her a few seconds to answer his question since she was too caught up with having a meal made for her with any specific instructions asked. "Can I have some pizza?" Her tone was a little odd since she wasn't exactly sure if that was something a new person asks as a meal.

"What kind of toppings would you like?" Yang nearly fainted. This reality she was in was too good to be true, but she didn't care.

"Pepperoni with a lot of cheese."

"Of course." The chef bowed to her and went on his way of making her the meal. As he turned away, Yang heard the front door slam. She ran out of the kitchen and into the main entrance hall.

"Cinder?" She looked around, but there was no around. "Hm, interesting." She slowly walked back into the kitchen to try and watch the man do his work and without a doubt, it was a work of art.

He started with the dough and did what everyone thinks a pizza chef would do. He rolled it out into a circle and started to toss it and spin it in the air. As she watching this show, Yang was speechless. He was doing all of these crazy things that pretty much looked impossible. After that was nice and doughy, he laid out the sauce and it glistened under the light. Next was the cheese and pepperoni and he definitely made it to perfection. He added a light layer of cheese and then spread some pepperoni on top of it. After that, he added another layer of cheese that was even thicker than the first one. By now, Yang couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to eat it so bad. He put some finishing touches on the pizza that he hid from her and placed it in the oven. When he closed the oven, Yang stood up and gave him a standing ovation.

"That… was… incredible!"

"Haha, thank you." He took one more bow as he removed his apron and grabbed a glass of water.

"Do you think you could teach me that someday?" The chef was a little surprised by her question.

"You want to learn how to make pizza?" She nodded her head vigorously. He smiled. He was happy to have someone show an interest in cooking. However, that moment couldn't last forever. He looked at the clock on the wall and the time on his watch and saw that it was 2pm.

"How about I teach you some other time? Have you completely Cinder's list yet?"

"Oh right, there's still one more thing I need to do. Thanks for reminding me."

"No problem." Yang ran off to her room to complete the final task of the day. Meanwhile, the chef look at the clocks one more time and pulled out his cook book. "Hm, 3 hours isn't enough time to make something worth talking about." He pulled out some pots and pans and immediately got to work.

As for Yang, she was busy thinking about what she could to spruce up her room. She didn't really own a lot things that would make it seem like it was truly her room. The only thing she really had were clothes. That was it. She grabbed the list and looked at it again, only this time, something dropped from behind it. Yang picked up whatever it was that fell and saw that it was money. She then looked at the list and saw that a message was left for her.

 _This is just in case if you really want to surprise me with your room. Have fun, but try not to go overboard with it._

Yang's face lit up as she saw $100 in her hand. She grabbed her things and stormed off in search of the perfect things for her room. She arrived at a Mal-Mart and looked for anything and everything she longed for to have in her room. Yang wasn't much of a girly girl, but she did have a passion for some things. She was obsessed with a boy band known as the Achieve Men so she found a poster of them. She also had a thing for yellow so she bought so yellow paint to use in her room. Once her little shopping trip was over, she headed back home and got to work.

A few more hours went by and Yang finally finished up her room. She headed back downstairs to meet up with the chef, but before she could, she saw all of her guards lined in front of the front door. Then, the door swung open and in walked Cinder.

"Good evening miss." She greeted them all with a subtle head nod. She scanned the room and saw Yang standing at the top of the stairs.

"Good evening Yang. Did you finish your chores?"

"Of course."

"Well done. Now, let's see what you did while I was gone." She threw her coat on the ground and headed upstairs, but one of her guards was quick enough to grab it before it could. Yang led her into her room where Cinder was pretty surprised. She had an assortment of posters on the walls. The wall next to her bed was painted yellow and had some cute little decorations on it. She scanned the room one last time before giving her the input she was waiting for. "Not bad. It's honestly better than I thought."

"Really?"

"Yep, now come on. We have dinner waiting for us." She took her hand and pulled her back down into the dining where they had their first meal together. The food was great and the atmosphere was very comfortable. That's when Yang truly realized that this was the place for her. The place she could call home.

End of Chapter 12


	13. Chapter 13

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 13

A Free Day

 **Note:** I've managed to get ahead of the writing on this story and I've noticed that this story is going to go longer than I first anticipated so I'm going to add Friday to the update day. I hope this pleases everyone and I hope you are all enjoying the story.

Yang's first actual day living in Cinder's house was really great. The work wasn't bad at all and it just felt comfortable being there… Anything was better than sleeping on that couch under a bridge. With that said, Yang had another peaceful night of sleep and woke up bright and early to bid farewell to Cinder on her way to work. Once she left, she walked over to the table that has her work load for the day. However, there was nothing there for her. That's when she noticed that Cinder didn't say anything about the list on the table. Even though that was true, she felt that she had to confirm this, but everyone who walked by her seemed a little too scary so she just decided to leave it at that.

She walked back upstairs to get ready and returned to her room. When she did, she immediately realized that there wasn't really anything for her to do. She looked over at her desk and saw that there was still some money left over from her shopping trip yesterday so she decided to head into town. Although it was a week day and she was obvious a girl who looked like a student, she wasn't concerned at all. She could just get away with the whole home school idea.

In the beginning, Yang didn't really have a set point on where she wanted to go so she just wandered around aimlessly. As she did, no one questioned her about being out here during the day which made her feel even better. She didn't want to affiliate with anyone and things were just going by too easily for her. As she continued to wander aimlessly, she spotted some street performers doing a little show in the square so she decided to check it out. When she got there, she saw that it was a group of girls and guys doing some drumming with random objects. They were all smiling and looking like they were having a great time. Right as she made contact with one of the girls, she walked over to Yang and grabbed her by the hand.

"Come and join us."

"Haha, no thank you. I'm no good at playing music."

"Don't worry about. Drumming is all about freedom. All you have to do is play what you feel on the inside." The girl sat Yang down in front of an upside-down bucket and insisted on her playing. At first, Yang didn't know what to do, but as she looked around and saw the others doing whatever they wanted, that quickly got her motivated.

"How's this?" She wasn't doing anything special, but she was pounded on the bucket.

"Perfect. See, you're getting it," the girl said with a smile. Her smile was so contagious that Yang eventually caught and started to let herself go.

"Woooaaaahhhh!" The lead guy started to do some chants which only made the drumming seem even cooler. When he did that, Yang started to go crazy do some interesting things. She smacked the sides of the bucket as well as hitting it against the ground to provide different sounds.

"Yeah, keep it up girl!" Yang smiled again and continued her thing. The crowd around the little street show got bigger with all of their attention slowly going towards Yang. However, she was unaware of this since she was too into drumming. After some time, everyone coordinated a simultaneous drum roll which Yang eventually picked up on. As that happened, they all started to yell and this time, Yang followed them too. After a few more seconds, they nodded at each other and stopped drumming, leaving Yang to be the only one playing. It took her a few seconds to realize it, but when she stopped, everyone cheered as if they witnessed some kind of miracle.

"Woooo!" At that moment, Yang's face went red as kicked the bucket to the side and tried to run, but that girl from before grabbed her before she could.

"Hey, that was great."

"What? I totally played when it was over."

"There's no rule that says we can't play when everyone else isn't. You did great." Yang turned her head in embarrassment.

"Really?"

"Of course. Everyone we try to get play with us is just too shy to do something random. I can tell you got a free soul." That last comment stuck with Yang for a while. It wasn't true at all. Deep down, she was still thinking about her parents, but she knew that she had to keep moving forward and that's why she was living with Cinder. That woman could give her a future where she didn't have to dwell on her past. "If you're ever available, we're always out here so you should come by."

"Okay. I'll try." The girl patted her on the back and walked back to her group where they started to do another song. Yang looked at them one last time and then turned to do something else. When she did, a familiar voice called out her name which caused her to freeze where she was.

"Yang, is that you?" Yang's eyes widened for it was a voice she hasn't heard in a long time. She turned slowly and saw Blake with her hands against her chest. "W-What are you doing here?"

"Me? W-What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"I could ask you the exact same thing." At that moment, Yang was being trapped in a corner. She didn't really know what to say. She was in kind of a bad situation here so she had to be quick on her feet. What was the best thing she could do? Run? Stay and talk? She didn't really know this girl so running would be the best decision for her.

"Sorry, but I got to go." Right as Yang attempted to flee, Blake grabbed her by the wrist.

"Yang, you're not trying to avoid me, are you?" Yang was slow at turning around. It wasn't entirely true, but at this certain moment in time, that's what she was doing.

"N-No. Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. It's just that I haven't seen you in school for a long time and then out of nowhere, you show up here. So, what's going on?" Blake wanted to know what was happening with her. "Are you okay? I, um, I actually saw you when…" Yang immediately cut her off.

"I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me." At that moment, Blake let go of her wrist and Yang brought it back to lessen the pain. Surprisingly, her grip was pretty tough.

"But I…" She wanted to say it. She really did. She wanted to tell her that she missed that smile she gave her every morning. She wanted to tell her that she missed hearing her voice tell her good morning every day as school started. She missed being able to see Yang at school. She missed it all… She just couldn't bring herself to say it to her face. "Never mind. I'm sorry for bothering you." She turned around to hide her tears. "Goodbye." She started to walk off in shame. She missed her chance to speak her heart.

"Hey Blake." But at the sound of her voice, her face started to light up again.

"If you're ever in town, we can hang out." She turned around and tried her best to conceal her pure enjoyment from that comment.

"Really?"

"Of course. I haven't really hung out with any friends recently so I've been kind of bored." Blake smiled. She suddenly reached in her bag and rummaged through her things as quickly as she could.

"Ah, found it. Whenever you're free, you call me and I promise I'll be there to meet up with you." She walked up to Yang handed her a piece of paper. "I gotta go. Bye." Before Yang could respond, Blake was already gone. She then looked down and saw that it was a number. Yang couldn't help but wonder if she already had this planned.

"Hm." She folded it back up and placed it in her pocket. After that, she had no desire to do anything else so she headed home for the day with only one thing in her head: Blake.

End of Chapter 13


	14. Chapter 14

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 14

Getting Used to a New Life

The days went by and Yang was really starting to enjoy her new life with Cinder. The days were alright since it was mostly her and her chores, but whenever Cinder came home, things immediately got better. Yang would tell her about everything that she did no matter how bland or how exciting things got. All Cinder did was sit there and enjoy her stories. Seeing that smile on her face was priceless and she was glad that there was someone who longed to talk to her since her house was mostly filled with guards who didn't want to talk.

However, the chores that she was given slowly got more and more intense. The list started to get longer each day and the instructions started to get more and more specific. Yang didn't take notice of this until she started to finish her chores around the time Cinder got home. And yet, this didn't bother her. Cinder was allowing her to live her life the way she wanted so there was no reason to complain.

As for Blake and Yang, they started to hang out more and more, but this only happened on the weekends. Cinder never gave Yang any work on the weekends so this motivated Yang to get out of the house. In the beginning, things were a little awkward between them, but eventually, they started to get comfortable around each other and freely speak their minds. However, Yang constantly avoided the subject of her new life with Blake. Also, Blake never asked in detail. She only assumed that it was something bad since adoptions and other stuff like that was pretty hard on kids. With that in mind, she tried to keep things on the light side, but all the while, the biggest reason Blake wanted to hang out with Yang was to see her smile. It was the smile that attracted her attention when she used to come to school. It was that voice that greeted her in the morning. Those memories were returning to her in a much nicer fashion.

Slowly but surely, weekends were the highlights of Yang's life.

More time went by and Cinder started to become less present. Yang tried asking around about where she was, but her guards wouldn't speak. They just said that it wasn't her business and that she should leave it alone. At the same time, Yang started to feel another presence inside the house. She could never figure what it was, but it felt as if there was another person living there aside from her and Cinder.

This feeling drove her nuts. When she did her chores, she took some time off to explore the house, but nothing inside told her that there was another person. It was just a gut feeling for her. However, she was determined to figure out the truth. From the outside, she was just chasing a ghost, but Yang was hard-headed in the thought that someone else was there. She didn't know why she thought this way. It was the strangest thing.

One day, Cinder came home much different than usual. They sat down for dinner, but only this time, she was the first one to speak.

"Hey Yang, it's been what, about a couple of months since you've started living here right?"

"Yeah, I guess that's about right. Why?"

"I was just thinking that you don't even know what I do for a living. How about I show you what I do? Would you be interested in it?"

"Sure."

"Really?"

"Perfect. Starting next week, that chore list will no longer exist. You'll be coming to work with me and I'll show you the ropes with what I do."

"Okay." At that moment, Yang smiled. She was glad that she would have to do any more of those chores. She was also glad that she got to know what Cinder did. She was curious as to why she always came late and finally, she would be able to learn why things were the way they are.

End of Chapter 14

 **Ending Note:** Sorry for the short chapter, but I meant for this one to serve as like a bridge. Don't worry though, this week, I've provided you guys with a double chapter so the wait won't seem like a waste of time. I hope you're enjoying the story and I hope you keep coming back for more.


	15. Chapter 15

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 15

Cinder's Job

 **Note:** Here's the other half of this double chapter update. I hope you all enjoy.

When the next week came around, Yang woke up bright and early and waited for Cinder at the front door. This was the start of something new so she wanted to be ready and excited for what was to come. It didn't take long until Cinder made her way to the front door. When she got there, Yang was already ready and the two of them headed out. They got in that same limousine and drove off to Cinder's office. Of course, Yang couldn't keep her mouth shut and had to ask Cinder about what she did and where they were going. Cinder didn't go into detail since she wanted it to be a surprise, but she did say that Yang would hold a big part in her job which made her happy. When they got there, Yang jumped out of the car and looked up to see a huge building towering above her.

"Whoa." That was the only thing Yang could say at the time. On the other hand, Cinder couldn't help but laugh at her bewilderment.

"See. This is why I didn't want to say anything because I wanted to see the true reaction on your face and I wasn't disappointed."

"What the heck?! This is where you work. What do you do?"

"Come inside and I'll show you."

Yang walked inside and was immediately shocked at what she saw. The entrance hall was huge. The ceiling was so high that she could barely even see where it was. There a desk in the middle of the room that controlled admittance into the building. Cinder guided her to the front desk where the lady welcomed Cinder with a bright smile.

"Good morning Ms. Fall. Where will be heading today?"

"This is Yang. I'm having her start today so we'll be heading to Floor 10. Also, give her full access to it."

"Of course. Everything checks out. Have a wonderful day." She hands Cinder the pass and she gives it to Yang as they made their way to the elevators.

"What's on Floor 10?"

"No more questions. I'll tell you everything when we get to it."

"Ugh, fine." They walked to the elevator and rode it up to the 10th floor. When they got there, Yang was surprised yet again at what she saw. She was expecting to see cubicles and boring looking people, but nothing like that was there. Computers were lined up all across the floor, but everyone was doing random things all over. Yang stepped out of the elevator and looked around.

"I guess it's about time I tell you what I do." Yang suddenly stopped and looked up at Cinder. "It's kind of difficult to explain, but my company helps rid the world of bad people." Immediately, Yang had a confused look on her face.

"What does that mean?"

"You know that there are criminals and bad people in the world, right?" Yang nodded. "Well, we help bring them to justice. If there's a situation that's too difficult for normal peace keeping offices, we handle it with the upmost dedication. On this floor, we focus on intelligence. Everyone here is responsible for finding information on a certain someone. Once that's figured out, it moves on up to the higher floors."

"What do the higher floors do?"

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you that. Because of the business that I run, information and other things have to be kept classified. You understand, don't you?" She nodded again. "How about I take you up to my office? That's not restricted."

"Okay." They returned to the elevator and travelled up to the top floor. When they got there, Yang was blown away. The floor was all to herself with huge windows that provided the perfect view of the city. "Wow, you're so lucky."

"I wouldn't say lucky."

"Why not?"

"This is where a lot of work gets done. I have to approve all of the operations and make sure that the information from downstairs is enough to go ahead with everything. Clearance is very important and if not enough things are met, we can't save the world." Slowly but surely, the things Cinder was saying were starting to make sense.

"Earlier, you said that I would have full access to Floor 10. What does that mean?"

"You're going to be working there from now on." Yang didn't have the greatest look on her face when she heard that. "Trust me, it's not that bad. The people down there are all really great people and you should be able to fit in nicely."

"Okay."

"Come on, don't be so down. I promise you'll love it. If you don't, I won't make you come back here again. Deal?" Cinder stuck out her hand towards Yang and she looked at it with such concentration. She was thinking hard about it and knew that this was the only thing she could do. Since she was given an alternative, there was no use in not trying it out. She shook Cinder's hand and headed back to the elevator.

"Alright bye."

"Have fun." The elevator door closed and a couple of her guards emerged from the darkness.

"Ms. Fall, are you sure you want to do this? She's not old enough." Cinder sighed.

"Everyone has to start some time. For her, now is the best time. Let's just leave it at that."

When Yang arrived at Floor 10, she was a little nervous. People were running around all over the place and no one looked like they had the time to help her get started. She looked around and saw everyone doing their own thing and knew that this was going to be difficult as she continued to look around, someone tapped on her shoulder which caused her to turn in a hurry.

"Hey, you're the girl Ms. Fall took in, right?" Yang nodded. "Awesome. The name's Roman and I am the head of the intelligence branch of the organization. How about we start you off with a little tour?"

Without wasting anymore time, Roman took off and Yang followed behind him. The first place he showed her was the research area. This was where all of the computers were and they were used to find and track people that were potential targets. After that was the archive. This was where the records of past targets were held. This was important in that if they had relatives, it made it easier to assure that they would be a threat in the future. Of course, there was a break room that was pretty impressive. The food looked great and the room itself was huge. A lot of people were spending time there if they weren't working. The last place was the approval desk. This was where final information was processed and then sent up to the upper floors. Yang tried to ask him about what was on the upper floors, but he said that that was classified.

"Alright, well that concludes the tour. Do you have any questions?" Yang was a little hesitant, but eventually, she managed to speak her mind.

"This all seems great and all, but doesn't this seem kind of wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"You said that you're trying to stop bad people from doing bad things right?" He nodded in agreement. "Well, doesn't that seem kind of dictating in a way? People might feel threatened because you're trying to take matters into your own hands."

"Haha, that's very perceptive for someone as young as you. But in all seriousness, it's not how you would imagine it. Most of the time, the targets we get have already done something bad. We are here to prevent the next bad event from happening. We must realize that we can't antagonize those who haven't done wrong." At that moment, Yang blew a sudden sigh of relief. It was just a misunderstanding and now, everything was making sense. This was why Cinder said she would protect her. This business of hers was the proof.

"So what can I start on?"

"Haha, you wanna start already? Smart kid, I like you. Let's see here… There's really nothing you can do so you can help me at the approval. It's a pretty easy job, and with you keeping me company, things will go by swimmingly." He guided her back to the approval desk where they settled in for a day's worth of work.

He showed her the ropes and it wasn't that bad. She was the checker and he was the double checker. Once things got by Roman, it was sent to the upper floors for more processing. Even though it was a lot of paperwork, this really interested Yang. She was able to read about the horrible things that were happening in the world and know that there was someone out there doing something about it.

"It's alright, Ruby. You're big sister is going to protect you now."

End of Chapter 15


	16. Chapter 16

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 16

Blake and Yang

For the first week, Yang had a great time. Everyone who she worked with got her settled in and made her feel really comfortable. The work wasn't that bad, except for the fact that her eyes slowly grew tired from reading through all of the information she received in one day. However, she couldn't complain. Cinder didn't mention this to her until after the week was over, but Yang was getting an allowance in accordance of her working at the department. It was a good amount of money that Cinder said was hers to spend however she wanted to. This came in handy when Yang suddenly got the urge to call up Blake. When she made the call, Blake was so flustered that she could barely even talk. Now that the week was over, Yang finally had the free time she deserved.

"Hi Yang."

"Hey Blake."

"Did I make you wait? I was kind of worried about how I looked. I don't really know why, but…"

"You look great, and I didn't wait so you're fine. Come on. Let's grab something to eat."

"Okay." That comment left her a little nervous. Yang said she looked great. She didn't know if she was just being nice or if it was a genuine compliment, but either way, she loved it.

Once when they found somewhere to eat, they sat down and started to share some of their experiences from the past week. In the beginning, Blake was the one commanded the conversation. It seemed as if she had the whole thing planned out. She started with one thing and slowly transitioned to other things that matched perfectly with the previous topic. Meanwhile, Yang just sat back and enjoyed the sound of her voice. For some reason when Blake talked, it was very soothing to her.

"So what about you?" Yang was too entranced by her voice that she barely even realized that Blake asked a question.

"Sorry, what?"

"You. Did you do anything special this week?"

"Oh, right. Actually, I got a job." Blake was surprised.

"You got a job?"

"Yeah, I know. It's kind of strange since I'm only 15."

"Well, what do you do?"

"Well, my guardian got this job for me. I work for her now, but it's actually really cool. I can't really talk a lot about it since she's constantly saying how things are classified and such, but we're kind of like world savers." At that moment, Blake squinted her eyes in confusion.

"World savers? What do you mean?"

"It's hard to explain if I can't really talk a lot about it. Sorry that I can't clarify it more for you."

"No, it's fine. It's just that that's kind of similar to another job that I've heard about."

"Really?"

"Sort of. I doubt it's the same thing. It's probably just my imagination."

After that, their conversation just sort of stopped. Blake couldn't talk anymore since she was too busy thinking about Yang had told her. She described her new job as being a world saver which just seemed a little childish. Yes, she was young, but to think like that while being in the work force was just a little optimistic. On the other hand, Yang was a little curious as to what Blake was talking about. If her current job wasn't the job she was thinking about, then what could it have been? The two of them sat there in silence while they were thinking about their own things. They did try to start up something else, but nothing seemed to feel comfortable with the atmosphere they were in.

"Hey Yang."

"Yeah."

"Do you mind if I ask something kind of personal?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Did you like your mother?" At that moment, Yang's eyes shot wide open as she looked up to see Blake looking down at her lap.

"My mother? You know that's she dead right?"

"I know. And I feel bad about asking this. I just want to know if she's a woman you look up." It took her a while to answer since this was still a sensitive topic for her. "I'm sorry. You don't need to answer this. This was just a selfish question of me."

"No, it's fine. I just… It's been hard for me since I found out about her death." Out of nowhere, Blake reached across the table and gently placed her hands on top of Yang's.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I already feel bad about asking and I know that you're hurting on the inside just thinking about it. You can keep it to yourself."

"No, I want to." She took a few deep breaths and spoke the truth. "She was a wonderful woman. She always showed her love no matter what was going on. But she was also an ideal mom. She could be loving when she wanted to do, but also had a really mean side which was something you didn't want to mess with. She was beautiful and…" Tears suddenly started to form in her eyes which caused her to cover her face. "I'm sorry. This is embarrassing." Blake grabbed her wrist and pulled them back down onto the table.

"No it's not. You are such a strong person. You can face the truth and hold your own. I wish that was something I could do." Yang looked up with puffy, red eyes.

"W-What are you talking about?" Blake clenched her fist and slammed it on the table.

"I hate my mother. She's horrible. She constantly tries to make me think the way she does, but I'm starting to realize that that is not possible. She's a horrible person, but she wants everyone around her to believe that she's the only one who's right. I hate her." Blake closed her eyes and tightened her fists even more. However, she immediately that her words weren't something that she should share with someone like Yang. "Oh my God, that was so wrong of me. Please don't think badly about me."

"Why would I?"

"Well, you talked so wonderfully about your mother that I thought you would think I was a horrible person for talking about my mom like that."

"I can't stop you from thinking what you want. And plus, you held your own." Blake suddenly opened her eyes and looked up at Yang.

"Held my own?"

"You stayed strong when you were talking about something that you were uncomfortable about."

"Huh? I guess that's true."

"Why do I get the feeling that you don't have enough confidence in yourself?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Whenever I talk to you, it seems as if you're not being honest with yourself."

"Wow, that's funny. I feel the same thing coming from you." Again, they suddenly went silent.

For Yang, she felt this way because she was a quiet girl. Most of the time, Yang took control of the conversation with Blake inputting some small comments. She wanted to hear more about this girl, but it was just hard since she seemed to be quite the introvert. But also, it was hard for Yang to not talk since she just wanted to spread the joy of her new life to other people.

For Blake, she was still contemplating on if this girl was being completely honest with her. Of course, whenever she talked, she spoke from the heart. She just thought that there was more to her than what she was actually telling her. Also, she did know that she was a quiet person so coming out with her was a challenge.

After that, not many words were shared, but being the presence of each other was just enough to get them through the day. When the day grew late, they packed up their things and headed out of the restaurant. They turned their heads and saw the sun slowly makes its way onto the horizon and that told them that their time was done.

"Hey. Today was a really great. Thank you for putting up with my weird behavior."

"What are you talking about? I did the same thing. Don't pin all of that on yourself."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I really enjoyed being with you today. It was really refreshing. Staying at home or working most of the time is kind of taxing on my own spirit. Sorry if that's kind of weird to think about."

"Haha, you're funny."

"Well, I try my best." The two of them finally let go of themselves and chuckled a little bit. For their entire time together, they didn't really laugh or share any funny moments so doing this was a weight lifted off of their shoulders.

"I was wondering, uh… Can we do this again sometime?"

"Of course. This was fun. I would be more than happy to do this again. You have my number right?" Blake immediately got flustered as she reached for her phone inside of her pocket.

"Yes, I do."

"Call or text me and I'll do my best to meet up with you." Blake's face lit up.

"Okay." They waved to each other as they went their separate ways. Unfortunately, there were still some things on their minds that they wanted to share, but they just felt that it was better to take their time. There was no need to rush. They had time, but the things they did share today put a lot of ease on their minds. They were able to learn more about each other while also learning about the mysterious sides of them. Both of them went home with smiles on their faces and with the mentality that today was a huge success.

End of Chapter 16


	17. Chapter 17

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 17

The New Job

Time didn't seem like an object at all as a year went by. Yang continued to work with Cinder and that job continued to intrigue her. She was learning so many new things about the outside world that school never actually taught its students. All sorts of crime and horrible things were happening around her and yet, this company had plans on doing things. She didn't really know it, but all of the things she checked were cleared in time. She never had to read something and tell herself that she's seen it before. This company made it a point to solve its problems as quickly as possible and that's one of the reasons why Yang loved it there so much. She knew that she could continue doing this for a while.

On the other hand, her relationship with Blake also started to strengthen. The time of small talk was over. They started to talk about more meaningful things. They talked about their own personal life, their dreams, and anything else that wasn't lame. However, in every conversation, Blake always mentioned how school was boring without Yang being there. Yang couldn't really say anything about that since school was a horrible memory now. Aside from that, things were going really smoothly between them… Things that none of them realized were happening.

One night at dinner, Cinder broke the silence and called out to Yang. For Yang, this was a little strange since Cinder started to grow a little distant from her. However, she was always interested in what she had to say.

"So Yang, how do you like it on Floor 10?"

"It's great. I'm learning so many new things about this world."

"That's really good."

"I know. The thing I like the most, though, is how I never get the same bit information twice. It seems that everyone who works there does their job well."

"Of course they do. I don't just hire people for no reason. Everyone there was chosen to be a part of something incredible big."

"That's so cool."

"Anyway, I was meaning to ask you something. Over this past year, you've been working on Floor 10, and it seems like you like it a lot." Yang nodded her head. "And like I said a few seconds ago, I only choose people who can perform the job that needs to be done exactly to the letter. Do you wanna know why I asked you to work for me?"

"Why?"

"Because I don't want what happened to your parents to happen to you… ever." Yang suddenly widened her eyes. "That's why I chose you. I want you to know that there is good in this world and that there are people out there who can help. Now, with that being said, I have another proposition for you." Yang leaned forward in her chair. "You've gotten older and I think it's time for you start feeling like you're making a difference."

"But I do feel like I'm making a difference."

"Trust me, I know you do. However, I think you'll feel even better if you listen to my proposition. There is a place for you on Floor 15."

"What's that?"

"That's where we train our soldiers."

"Soldiers?" The more Cinder talked, the more Yang became confused. Soldiers just seemed weird since she though Cinder's company was an intelligence agency. "What do you mean by soldiers?"

"That floor is where we train the ones who go out and rid the world of the scum you read about every day."

"So you train people to kill?"

"I know it sounds bad, but it's completely necessary." When Cinder looked up, she saw that yang was starting to fade from the conversation. "We only do it so that people like you don't have to go through such hardships." Yang's eyes widened as she looked back up at Cinder. She was finally returning to her. "I already told you. My company is responsible for making this world a better place. You must understand."

"So how come my parents are dead?" She knew that that question was going to pop up.

"That situation was special. I personally took matters into my own hands since the one who killed your parents was considered one of the most dangerous people in the world. I feel guilty about it every day of my life. That's why I'm asking this of you. You have something you wish to take back. How about doing this? This could be your shot at redemption. Kill in order to protect those who otherwise wouldn't have protection." Yang stood up with her head down.

"Could you give me some time to think?"

"Of course." She turned around and headed up to her room. Meanwhile, Cinder was still in the dining room. She pounded her fist on the table and groaned incredibly loud.

"What the hell's wrong with me? I shouldn't have mentioned that last part. It's only going to make her think bad about me." She gripped her head in her hands and stared at her food on the table.

Back at Yang's room, she collapsed onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. She was thinking about the many things Cinder told her. Training people to kill, her trying to save her parents, and having a shot at redemption; all of those things were spiraling in her head causing her to nearly get whiplash. She sighed as she threw her arm over her eyes. At that moment, her phone buzzed which caused her to turn over and check what it was. It was Blake.

…

Yang went to the café that she was supposed to meet Blake at, but nearly an hour before hand. For some reason, she just wanted to get out of the house. While she waited, she continued to think about her conversation with Cinder the night before. The things that she talked about seemed so weird and so misconstruing. Killing people or gaining redemption were at war inside Yang's head and she didn't even know which one was the right or wrong. After some time went by, Blake finally arrived. However, she noticed that Yang kind of looked a little puzzled.

"Hey Yang, are you alright?" It took her a few seconds to answer, but when she did, she nearly jumped out of her chair.

"Blake, what are you doing here?"

"Um, I thought we were hanging out today." At that moment, Yang looked at the clock and saw that it was the time for them to meet up. "Aw man, I'm sorry. I've kind of had a rough couple of days so I've had a lot of other things on my head. Please don't take that the wrong way."

"Oh no, it's fine. So should we meet another day then?"

"No, no. Today's fine. Here, sit down." Blake took a seat and looked right at Yang.

"So what's wrong?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Kind of. You were sitting here all by yourself and then when I got here, you looked like you've seen a ghost. How is that not wrong?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"So you're sure you don't want to talk about whatever it is you're going through?" Yang took a few seconds to think about it. She has been getting closer to this girl for a long time so it only seems right to share what's on her mind. She took a deep breath and looked at Blake.

"I didn't really come here to tell you my problems."

"I'm here, aren't I?" She bowed her head and started her story.

"It's been a year since I've worked with my guardian. Things have been really good, but yesterday, she tried promoting me up to a new area of her company. I wasn't really sure what I should do so I didn't answer. Do you think you could help me out?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to help when you're so particular about this job of yours."

"Oh right. Well, let me try this. I told you that I was kind of like an overseer. People gave me paperwork and I checked it over." Blake nodded her head. "Well, now, she wants to be the 'world saver.' You remember that term I used, right?"

"Yeah, I kind of found that a little weird though."

"Yeah, it is."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. It seems like a good idea because of what I've been through. But…"

"But?"

"She's asking me to do something I'm not too comfortable with."

"Hm. I can't really tell you how to tell your life, but I think you should be doing something that makes you happy. Whether it's straight-up good or more for a personal thing, as long as you know it's good, that's all that matters."

"Alright. Thank you Blake. Of course, that's what friends are for." Yang widened her eyes. That word can mean so many things, but for Yang, it's caused her so much struggle in the past. She couldn't answer her. She just nodded her head and went silent.

…

When Yang got home, Cinder was in the dining room waiting for dinner when Yang walked in. She looked up and welcomed Yang back home.

"You hungry?"

"I have an answer to your proposition."

"Really? I hope you don't feel rushed when I said…"

"I'll do it."

"Huh?"

"I'll do it."

End of Chapter 17


	18. Chapter 18

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 18

A Day of Training

Agreeing to Cinder's request left a bad taste in her mouth as that night was a sleepless one. It wasn't like she didn't want to do it; it was just that the way Cinder described it kind of made it seem worse than it actually was. However, she couldn't let that affect her. She did her best to forget about all of that stuff and eventually managed to fall asleep.

When the next day came around, everyone in the house had an early start. They all got ready and quickly got into limo for another drive to Cinder's workplace. They did the same routine as before, except this time, they went Floor 15. When the door slid open, the scenery was already different from the previous one. The entire floor was an open-floor plan. They were large mats everywhere with people all over the place in workout clothes. At this point, Yang was so confused that she couldn't find the words for the situation.

Cinder stepped out of the elevator and walked towards the main meeting area of the floor. The people were standing around chatting noticed Cinder and immediately stood at attention.

"Attention! President on-duty." Cinder smiled and waved her hand. That's when they relaxed.

"Hello everyone, today you will be joined by someone very special. I picked her up from an awful orphanage and now she's moving forward in her career to save this world." At that moment, everyone started to give her a round of applause. "Alright, thank you. Now, I want you guys take things a little slow for her since this floor is a lot different from the other ones. Am I understood?"

"Aye!"

"Good. Neo, can you come here?" Yang turned her head and saw a girl with pink and dark brown hair.

"Yes mistress?"

"This is Yang. I'm putting her under your direction. Teach her well, teach her quickly."

"Of course." She bowed to Cinder and Cinder walked off back to the elevator. "Hello, Yang. You ready to do some training?"

"Training? What exactly does that entitle?"

"We train extensively so that we're well prepared to rid the world of the scum that poison the world we live in."

"But you're like eight. How am I supposed to learn anything from you?" The girl smiled and suddenly jumped at Yang's neck. She wrapped her legs around her and spun her body around until Yang had no control of her body. The girl then leaned backwards which forced Yang's body to fall in that direction. The weight of the girl's body threw Yang on the ground while she managed to return to my feet.

"The name's Neo and I'll be your instructor. I'd advise you not talking down to me like that since I'm the strongest person here. Now, get changed and meet me back here in 2 minutes." The girl walked off in silence as some of the other people gave her high-fives and fist bumps. Yang slowly got back on her feet and grabbed her shoulder.

"Jesus. What the hell is wrong with that girl?" Yang looked around eventually found where she needed to go. She went to the locker room and got changed.

When she returned, Neo was waiting for her with a mean look on her face. The two of them said nothing to each other as the training immediately got started. Unlike Floor 10, Yang had a really hard time with all this type of training. Fighting and combat were cool, but that wasn't really her thing. She never had a reason to be violent and now, she was pretty much being forced to be violent.

Neo was relentless with Yang. She barely gave her anytime to breathe as Neo's method of teaching was learning on-the-go. She taught her all sorts of attacks, defenses, and maneuvers without thinking about well Yang can process that information. Since she moved so fast, it left Yang open to a lot of beat downs. They weren't even easy. Neo treated her as if she was an actual threat that needed to be eliminated. The whole time that was going on, a lot of other people were watching and couldn't help laugh at Yang's progress. She was awful compared to them, and yet, she wanted to continue.

While beating her to death, Neo drilled another thing into her mind. She kept on telling her that if she wasn't strong enough, she would never be strong enough to do anything. Whenever she was knocked to the ground or screamed out in pain, those words would be whispered into her ear. As bad as it sounded, Yang took it seriously because it was true. The reason her parents died was because she wasn't strong enough to save them. The reason Ruby wasn't with her was because she wasn't strong enough to defend her. All of the precious things in her life were gone because she was weak. This is what fueled her to keep fighting through the pain and failure of training.

When the day grew late, Cinder made her way back down to pick up Yang, but things were looking interesting. Yang was still training with Neo without showing any signs of giving up. Without even asking Yang if she wanted to come home, she turned around and headed back to the elevator. Before she entered the elevator, one of her employees came up to her and asked to speak in private.

"What is it now?"

"The rogue agent you asked us to capture is still on the run."

"What do you mean 'on the run?' I thought I made it clear that I wanted that rogue agent back in our hands now."

"We're incredible sorry Ms. Fall, but none of our trainees are shaping up good enough for the job."

"Hm." Cinder put her fingers on her chin and started to think to herself. It took a few seconds for her to realize that there was still a chance. She grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him to face Yang. "Do you see that?"

"I'm not quite sure what I should be seeing Ms. Fall?"

"That girl. She will shape up to be the best we've ever had. Maybe even better than Neo. Until that time, I want you to slow the runaway as much as you can. I got afford someone like that to escape from this company."

"I understand. We'll get right on it." At that moment, he bowed and disappeared from sight. Meanwhile, Cinder arched her back and sighed.

"What are these people even doing down here?" She looked back at Yang with determination. "Yang, I'm counting on you. We need you."

…

It was the middle of the night and Neo was still working Yang like a pig. Yang was still holding strong; at least, strong enough to stand up and push through. Neo didn't mind this at all since most of the people she trained could barely deal with the first few minutes of her training procedure. The longer it went on, the more Yang was able to endure the pain. Unfortunately, this only made Neo step up her training game.

Time was no longer an object even though it felt like it went on forever. It wasn't until Yang finally lost the will to return to her feet when Neo called it a day. She picked Yang up off the ground and carried her to the floor infirmary. There was nothing serious, but all those bruises she acquired were incredibly sensitive so Neo removed Yang's clothes and threw her in an ice bath. Thankfully, Yang was in too much pain to feel the intense cold of that bath. She laid there in silence as Neo organized everything that she used.

"Just stay in there for a few hours and you'll feel better. We'll pick things back up when you're recovered." Neo turned off the lights and left the room.

Being alone let Yang think to herself in peace. However, the only thing that she was thinking about were the words that came out of Neo's mouth. The words "strong" and "weak" echoed throughout her brain. Even just thinking about those words made her feel bad. It was true. She was weak and she needed to get strong. That was the reason why she agreed to do this. She wanted to make this world a better place as well as be a person that other people can depend on. The person she was right now was someone who would easily be brushed to the side and forgotten about. She sighed and closed her eyes.

Ring ring. She suddenly opened her eyes and turned her head to see her phone ringing. She brought her arm out of the water, but that was as far as she could go. The pain was just too much for her to extend it out anymore. She wanted to answer it. She wanted to know who it was, but it was just impossible. She just watched it ring until it finally silenced.

Who was that?

…

"Yang, where are you? I want to talk to you."

End of Chapter 18


	19. Chapter 19

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 19

Strange Behavior

The night was a slow one for Yang. She sat in the bath of ice for an endless amount of time, waiting for the morning to come so that she could train again. For some reason, Neo left quite an impression on her. It was obvious that that girl was working for this company and wanted to make this world a better place, just like her. Also, she occasionally turned her head to look at her phone. It was bothering her that she couldn't reach it. She wanted to know who called her, but that would just have to wait.

Once morning came around, Yang's body suddenly regained its strength. She slowly climbed out of the tub and put her clothes back on. She then walked over to her phone and checked to see who it was. Before she could really see who the caller was, a sharp voice called out her name which caused her to drop her phone and turn around.

"Yang!" She stood straight up as if a drill sergeant was inspecting her. Neo walked into the room and slowly walked towards her. "I gave Cinder my report of you and she said that I'm free to be your mentor. However, there is a certain way I like to run things and this is unacceptable. Today, you may the day off." Yang grew disgusted.

"What are you talking about? I have to train. One day isn't enough."

"It's not like I'm going to stop. You just can't go back-to-back days when you first start off."

"Of course I can. My body's ready to go."

"I don't care. You need the rest or else your body won't recover the next time."

"That's fine. Let's go." Neo eyed Yang in a dirty way and slapped her across the face.

"I have agreed to train you, but if you're going to be stingy, then there's no need." Yang felt the hot place on her cheek and then started to walk away. "If you're thinking about a new mentor, good luck. Cinder said for me, and me alone to train you. No one else will help. So fix that attitude and I will see you here bright and early tomorrow." Neo turned around and walked out of the room. Yang brought her hand down and picked up her phone. She saw that it was Blake and immediately called her back.

"Yang?"

"Hi Blake. Sorry I couldn't get to the phone. I was kind of busy doing some things yesterday."

"It's fine. I just wanted to talk to you."

"Really? We can meet up right now if you're available."

"Sure. Our usual place?"

"You got it." They hung up the phone and ran to their usual meeting place. It didn't take long for them to arrive. When they got there, they exchanged smiles and walked into the café. As they took a seat, Blake immediately noticed something different about Yang that she couldn't let it pass.

"Yang, what happened to you? Why do you have all these bruises?"

"Oh, don't worry about it."

"How can I not? It looks like you got beaten up by like 10 dudes. Are you sure you're not in pain?"

"I'm sure. Don't worry about me. Anyways, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, it was kind of a spur-of-the-moment. It's not important anymore."

"Aw, I wanna know. You can still tell me."

"No, I can't. It'd be too weird to talk about it now."

"Why? We're here like we always are. What would possibly make it weird?" This whole time, Blake had her head down, but she finally looked right into Yang's eyes.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Yang nodded her head. "Alright, fine. I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me." At that moment, their conversation went silent and it even felt like the whole café went silent. "See? I told you it would be stupid to talk about. Just forget I even said anything. Let's change the subject."

"No, I'm curious about this."

"Yang, you're making this really on hard on me. It was just a struggle to call you yesterday to talk about it and now, you want to go into more detail about it."

"Well, what else are you expecting me to do? You ask me that kind of question, but don't want to talk about the things that go with me answering yes to it." Blake suddenly turned her head with a bright red face.

"Maybe."

"Blake. I think you're an awesome girl and I'm glad I can call you my friend, but I just don't think that that would be a good idea. I've got a lot going on right now with Cinder having me do all of these things. I just don't want to make you feel neglected. I'm sure you already do since we don't hang out a lot like we used to."

"It doesn't bother me."

"That's because we're friends. If we changed that, there would be a new sense of responsibility and dedication that I don't think either of us is ready for. I also doubt Cinder would approve of me doing something that would distract from my job."

"Cinder's not always right," she whispered softly to herself.

"Did you say something?"

"No. Let's just change the subject." Blake grabbed her drink and chugged it down until there was nothing left. After that, the two of them grew quite distant from each other. They did share a few words here and there, but nothing of significant value.

In her head, Blake was wanting to say so much to this girl, but she just felt that this was just an inappropriate time to do so. She kept quiet just to keep Yang with a calm mind. Hearing about what she's been through and what's she going through right now would just make matters worse if she piled on more things.

For Yang, this whole thing was kind of strange. The two of them were pretty close as friends, but for Blake to come out and say that they should date was just a little odd. Blake wasn't even much of the outgoing type so that made that request even stranger. Yang pondered this during their spurts of silence, but she just couldn't bring herself to talk about it with her. What could Blake possibly say about it? She just suddenly got the hots for Yang after hanging out like this? Of course not, that would be weird and unnatural.

The two girls were internally struggling with so much, but on the outside, things couldn't be any better. After a while, they stood up from their chairs and headed out of the café. Before they split off like they usually do, Blake threw in a few more words that caught Yang by surprise.

"Hey Yang, do you like where you work?"

"Sure. It's really cool and…"

"No, I mean… Do you like the work that you do?"

"Of course I do. We're saving lives. What could be better than that?" Blake bowed her head and gritted her teeth. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't think it's such a good idea for you to work with Cinder." Out of nowhere, Yang took a step back in confusion.

"Why are you saying that?"

"Because I don't think it's a good idea. Cinder's workplace has had a tendency to cause problems."

"Well, of course. Her company does a lot so every now and then, things have to get a little sticky before things are solved."

"Do you even hear yourself talk?"

"What?"

"Nothing. I'm going." She turned around and ran off. Meanwhile, Yang was left alone, completely confused about what just happened. Blake said some weird things that didn't fit her character at all. Why would she say those things? Yang continued to think about it for a few more minutes until she decided to head back home.

…

Blake returned to her hideout. It was in a very secluded place. No lights, no electricity; there was just a bed, desk, dresser, and a small picture on top of the desk. Blake stormed into the hideout and closed the door behind her. She lit a candle to provide her with some light as the sun was setting on another day. She sat down harshly on her bed and clenched her fists.

"Yang, why are you doing this? It's not for you." Out of nowhere, Blake lost her cool. She grabbed the picture and tossed it against the wall. The glass protecting the picture shattered as Blake leaned back onto her bed, covering her eyes.

The picture frame that lay on the ground was ruined. Glass was everywhere and the picture was out of place. However, there was something strange about that picture. It was a picture of Blake when she was younger and a woman standing next to her. Neither of them were smiling. It almost seemed like it was a picture just to say that they took a picture. The woman standing next to Blake was a tall, mysterious woman. It was Cinder.

 **Ending Note:** Brace yourselves everyone. The story's is going to take a dark turn and probably won't return to the light until the conclusion is reached. I hope you're enjoying everything so far.

End of Chapter 19


	20. Chapter 20

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 20

She is Ready

 **Note:** I want to apologize in advance for all of the time jumps that this story is doing. I did this on purpose to give the story more depth and feel. Also, it may seem a little rushed, but the things that have occurred in the previous chaptersare not the main meat of the story. I feel that that should be expressed. Aside from this, I hope you're all enjoying the story. There's still a lot more to come so be sure to stick around.

A year went by and many things have happened.

Yang's training was one of the biggest things that happened. Slowly but surely, Yang rose to the top of the ranks of soldiers. All of that time was still not enough. She trained with Neo for hours on end, but was still unable to pass her by. She was just too skilled to be defeated. It was probably the fact that she's more seasoned than Yang and that she watched Yang almost every day as she trained her so she would have the upper hand in a fight.

As for Cinder, she started to pay more attention to Yang's training. It was obvious that the special instructions that were given to Neo were paying off. Yang became extremely obedient towards Cinder to where she was almost like a dog. Of course, she had her humanity, but unlike when she was first with her, Yang agreed with Cinder a lot more without question. Neo also had a lot of influence on Yang. Every day, she would talk with her about their job and what was expected of them and Yang would always give them same, correct answer.

We are here to rid of the world of scum. If we fail, there is no world to return to.

The training was extremely hard and very brutal, but it proved to achieve the results that Cinder wanted. She created Yang into the soldier she wanted her to be. She was strong and a lot wiser about the world around her. There was nothing that held her back now. She was an entirely new person with an entirely new purpose: To rid the world of scum.

Due to her intense training schedule, she almost never saw Blake. The few times she did, Yang could only think about her training. She ran through movements and strategies all day with nothing else to think about. Blake slowly started to notice this change in her character and actively avoided her after this discovery. Yang didn't take notice of this since she was too invested into Cinder's company. At this point where she was, if she failed, all of this would have been a waste of time.

Now, at the end of a long day, Yang finally had the opportunity to travel up to the top floor of her company. There, Cinder was waiting for her to give a very important talk. The elevator chimed and the doors slid open. Yang peeked her head from the small cabin, but no one was around. She slowly walked out of the elevator and looked around. There was a sign right in front of the elevator pointing to Cinder's office. She followed the path until she finally arrived. She knocked on the door and waited for a response.

"Come in." Yang opened the door and walked in. She quickly marched to her desk and knelt down in front of it.

"You called for me?"

"I did. You may rise. There's no need for that anymore." Yang looked up and saw that Cinder was looking out the window. She was a little confused since this was always how she wanted to be greeted. She returned to her feet and stood there silently. "Do you know why I called you here today?"

"It must be something important or else you wouldn't want to see me. Am I correct?"

"Why yes you are. Boy, have you grown." Cinder spun her chair around and stood up on her feet. "I remember when I first picked you up from underneath that bridge. You were a train wreck. Now, you've grown into quite a woman." Cinder walked towards her in her normal, mysterious fashion.

"I'm confused. Is there a purpose you called me here today?"

"Be patient, my dear. All things come in time." She walked behind Yang and held onto her shoulders. She then leaned in and kissed her on the neck. Yang did her best to not flinch, but how could she not? This was such strange behavior from Cinder that she didn't know what to do.

"Um…"

"Just relax. You don't need to say a single thing." With one of her free hands, she reached around and scooped Yang's breast. At that moment, Yang couldn't help but let out a soft moan. With her other free hand, it travelled down Yang's body to her waist when the door suddenly slammed open.

"Ms. Fall, a word." She suddenly stopped her movements and opened her eyes.

"Alright. I will be right there. You better not go anywhere while I'm gone." She licked her neck and stepped out of the room as if nothing happened between them. "What must be so important as to bother me while I'm in the middle of a meeting?"

"We just thought that you'd want to see this." They pointed at the TV and Cinder started to watch the current program.

"City police have snagged yet another suspicious criminal embodying this brand. No one knows what it's from or what it means, but it's obvious that they are part of a group. Captured criminals are numbering at 8. None of them have spoken about their organization, but the Police Chief has a few words for us."

"Yes, thank you. It's obvious that these criminals are working for someone. We don't know who yet. Their training is outstanding in ways that can't be learned from the Internet. With that being said, we are taking multiple approaches to stopping this threat. The people of this town have nothing to fear. The police is force is doing their job to help…"

Boom! Everyone in the room jumped as a gunshot was fired at the TV. They all turned their heads to see Cinder's gun pointed at the TV. She had an irritated look on her face as she was starting to lose her cool.

"Do we have any information on this man?"

"Yes. Our processors just finalized the data. We were just about to send it back down to Floor 15 for assignment." Cinder grabbed the file and looked it over.

"Hm. Don't worry about that. I have someone fully armed and ready for such a task. Your job is done for the day." She turned around and headed back to her room. When she returned, Yang was still standing in the middle of the room as still as could be. She walked around her and sat back down at her desk.

"Is there something wrong?"

"I wouldn't really say that. You are getting your first mission." She tossed the file to the end of her desk and Yang walked over to grab it. "I trust that you're ready for this kind of mission. It shouldn't be too hard, but depending on your abilities…"

"I will get this done to the absolute best of my abilities." She opened up the file and skimmed through it.

"I was hoping to hear that from you." A few more seconds went by and Yang finished up her scan of the information.

"I am ready. What will I need?" Cinder reached inside of her drawers and pulled out a small box. She place it at the end of her desk like before, but Yang was a little hesitant to grab this one.

"This is all you'll need." Yang suddenly grabbed the box and opened it up. Inside was a pen. "This mission needs to be quickly and painlessly. You cannot leave any evidence of you being there or anything. A weapon as simple as a pen can damage just as much as a gun or a knife. With precision, you'll punch a hole through the black market that they won't know how to react. Can I trust you on this?" Yang looked down at the pen and then back up at Cinder.

"Of course."

"Well then, get going. Your window of opportunity is shrinking." Yang stood up straight and left the room. She travelled back down to the lobby of the building. She checked her things to make sure that she wasn't missing anything. She had her black cloaks for camouflage. She had a watch and her earpiece just in case something new came up. When she arrived in the lobby, she headed right for the exit when Neo popped up right in front of her.

"You first mission?"

"Yes. I don't have a lot of time so please move." Yang tried to squeeze beside her, but Neo put her hand on her shoulder and whispered in her ear.

"Are you forgetting something?" Yang's eyes shot wide open as she took a step back and recited the prompt.

"We are here to rid of the world of scum. If we fail, there is no world to return to."

"Good." Neo stepped aside and allowed her to leave. Once when Yang made it outside, she looked up at the pitch black sky and got to work.

…

Meanwhile, Cinder was back inside of her office overlooking the entire city. The door opened behind her which only made her smile.

"Rest assured gentleman, our problems are being resolved.

"Did you send someone out for him?"

"But of course. I can't leave someone like that alone."

"If Neo is out there, things should go by smoothly."

"I didn't send out Neo." They were in shock.

"You didn't? Then who did you send?" Cinder was looking over the file and smiled. The police chief's name was changed and his occupation was altered. It read that he was the leader of the black market mafia running the inner workings of the city. With this, there would be no defiance on Yang's part. She would go on believing her own cause.

"Haha. No one important… Just another pawn of mine."

End of Chapter 20


	21. Chapter 21

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 21

The New Yang

 **Note:** I apologize for not updating last Friday. A couple of days ago, I underwent some surgery that prevented me from spending time at my computer. I hope you all can understand. Other than that, I hope you all enjoy and be sure to let me know how I'm doing and what you think of the story.

Yang remained in the shadows of the streets. She took to back alleys and stayed out of public eyes. As she ran through the area, she was running through everything she read on the paper. He was the leader of the black market mafia so it was obvious that this guy was dangerous. She imagined his image over a hundred times to make sure she knew what he looked like. The last thing was the comment section. It was a normal area where people just blaze through, but she decided to remember it. It said that because of his work, he was forced to late night shifts so now was about the time he would should himself. She pressed her breast pocket and felt the pen. It was almost time.

She reached the inner city and found a nice alley that gave her a good view of the street in front of her. Hey eyes proactively scanned the area for anyone that matched the description. Since it was so late at night, there weren't many people to identify so that made it easier on her.

A few minutes went by and the streets slowly started to empty. However, this didn't discourage Yang. She kept her focus and made sure that no one passed by that she wasn't able to identify. After some more time, one last person entered the street and took a seat on the bench. He had on a black coat and took out a cigarette. Yang focused her eyes on only him and quickly realized that he was the one she was looking for. She looked for a way across the street without being spotted and went through with the rest of the plan.

Once she made it to the other side of the street, she veered her eyes in every direction to make sure that no one was around. She started to walk towards the man with her hand on her breast pocket. This was her chance to finally make this world a better place. With this kill, it was her first step to becoming a true "world saver." Right as she was behind the man, she shoved her hand over his mouth and jabbed the pen into his neck.

"Mmm!" She gripped the pen tighter and drilled it in even deeper.

"Feel the pain of the all of the lives you're poisoning." She pulled the pen out of his neck and disappeared. Blood spurted out of the hole in the neck as he leaned over and fell onto the ground. He was dead and Yang was successful.

In record time, Yang returned to Cinder's workplace as she made her way through the lobby and into the elevator. Everyone saw her enter, but no one commented on her return. She was just silent as there was only one person she wanted to talk to at this point. When the elevator arrived on the top floor, Yang quickly stepped out and walked to Cinder's door. She knocked and waited for Cinder's approval.

"Come in." Without wasting anytime, Yang walked through the door and walked across the room to her normal spot. She took a knee and looked at the floor.

"Mission success."

"Hmm, that was an impressive time. Any interferences?"

"None. It went as smooth as possible."

"Interesting." Cinder had her back facing Yang as she was sitting on her chair, staring out into the city. She had something on her lap that she was contemplating on giving to Yang.

"Is that all?" Cinder got up from her chair and walked over to Yang.

"Rise." Yang slowly returned to her feet and looked right at Cinder. "You just took your first step in saving this world. How does it feel?"

"I'm afraid I can't really answer. I have a clear objective and I won't be satisfied until it is met."

"Wise words." She turned around and sat down on the edge of her desk. "Let me refresh my memory a bit. You little sister is you goal, right?" At that moment, Yang's eyes shot wide open. That's when Cinder snapped her fingers. "Nailed it. That's a great goal. She's your only family now. Ruby… That's her name." Hearing that name nearly caused Yang to collapse onto her knees. She didn't realize it, but it's been three years since she's seen her little sister.

"This may be selfish of me, but… Do you know if she's alright?"

"Don't worry. Your precious little sister is safe. I've been having my people keep an eye on her all of this time. I couldn't have my best protege's relative die, can I?" Yang suddenly fell onto her knees as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." Cinder got off of her desk and knelt down in front of Yang.

"I understand how important your little sister is. I'm giving you the power to protect. All I need you to do is make sure that she stays safe… Just like the rest of the world." She placed the small box in front of her which caused Yang to stop crying in wonder.

"What is this?"

"Just think of it as a gift from me for completing your very first mission." Cinder grabbed Yang by the shoulders and brought her back onto her feet. She leaned in and whispered into her ear. "The world is a cruel place. It needs more people like us… Like you. With this, you'll be able to make this world a better place. People will look up to you as a beacon of hope that everything will return to the way it should be." Suddenly, Cinder kissed Yang on the cheek and spoke a few more words. "I saved you… Now save yourself." With those words, Cinder left her office and disappeared for the night.

Once Yang regained her composure, she headed back to the elevator and made her way down to Floor 5. During her year of training, Cinder said that it was best to live at the company building so this was now where Yang lived. All of her things were there and she had the whole floor to herself. This allowed her space to train on her own as well as giving her space to be a teenage girl.

When she arrived at her floor, she walked over to her training mat and sat down right in the middle of it. She set the box down right in front of her and simply retreated to her thoughts.

Cinder said that she was giving me the power to protect Ruby. Ruby… She's my younger sister. I used to care for her all of the time. I used to… I still love her. Where did the time go? All of this time, I haven't been able to see her. I wonder how she's doing. Ah no, you can't think about that right now. You have to become strong to be with her. That's all that matters now. Yang took a deep breath and slowly opened up the box.

Inside of the small box was a syringe with some kind of liquid inside. Yang didn't really know what it was for, but she was definitely curious so she took it out of the box and tried to examine it more carefully. When she did, she quickly realized that there was nothing suspicious about it. She also realized that there wasn't really a reason for Cinder to give this to her. She didn't have any kind of illness that forced her to take things that come out of a syringe. That's when she put it to rest. She placed the syringe back in the box and got a good night's sleep. Her first mission was a success and she was going to carry that with her for the rest of her time there.

…

The next morning went as it usually did. Yang met on the training floor and went through her motions. However, there was something different. She was more motivated than ever before. She called out for Neo and asked for a fight. Neo couldn't refuse so she grabbed her things and walked onto the mat. Yang was about to do the same when her name was called. She turned around and saw Cinder standing near the entrance of the floor. She ran over to her with the small box in hand.

"Cinder," she said with a bow.

"That box. Did you take it?"

"There's no need. I have the power I need to protect my sister. But thank you," she said as she handed the box to Cinder. However, instead of taking it back, Cinder gripped her by the collar and looked her in the eye.

"Reject my gift and it'll get you killed." She pulled her in closer and irradiated such a scary aura. "Don't get cocky." Cinder let go of her and pushed her back to the mat with the box still in Yang's hands.

"Alright newbie, you ready for your beat down." Yang put the box on the ground and grabbed her things. This time, it would be a kendo-style fight. Yang took her place right across from Neo and waited for the go-ahead.

"Begin!" At that moment, the two of them ran at each other with full force. Unfortunately, it was already a one-sided match. Neo was so quick that she managed to get multiple hits all over Yang's body. However, this wasn't going to stop her. She rolled out of the way and regained herself. She examined the situation and saw her chance.

"There!" She aimed low with the intent of going back to up top, but Neo saw this. She initiated a beautiful counter and ended up throwing Yang on the ground. She grabbed her arm and pulled it back behind her. "Aaahhhhh!"

"Pathetic." Yang did her best to look up and when she did, she saw Cinder with a disappointed look on her face. She then turned her body and headed for the elevator. This was the first time she caught Cinder watching her so she couldn't let her down now. She turned her head the other way and looked at the small box. Whatever was inside of it was pulling Yang towards it. At that moment, Neo forced her arm back even more which caused Yang to scream out in pain.

"Aaaahhhhh!" She gritted her teeth and came up with the only solution she could think. She pushed off the ground and tried to bounce towards the box. When she did, her shoulder popped which caused everyone to freeze in shock. Even Neo froze up because this was unethical for Yang to do this. That was her chance. She broke away from Neo's grasp and ran towards the box. She quickly opened it up and pulled out the syringe. "I don't know what this is, but I'm relying on you."

End of Chapter 21


	22. Chapter 22

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 22

Her Fatal Decision

 **Note:** I just thought I should share this with you guys since you're the ones responsible for it. This past weekend, I reached 10k views for my stories. I just wanted to say thank you for all of your support. It means the world to me that you guys are enjoying my stories and I hope you all can continue to do so in the future. Anyway, here's the update so I hope you all enjoy.

Without wasting any more time, she held the syringe in her hand and shoved it into her leg. Immediately, this caused her to scream out in pain as she released the syringe and looked at the ground. Her head was throbbing and it felt like fire was running through her veins. She clenched her fists as tight as she could while everyone else was watching. This caused them to start talking amongst themselves and when Cinder overheard the commotion, she stopped herself and reverted her attention to the fight.

"Guh!" Yang tried to focus, but it was nearly impossible. The pain was coursing throughout her entire body when her whole body collapsed onto the ground. Whatever this thing she just took was, she was regretting it.

"Hey, get off the ground. We're not done yet!" As she was struggling within herself, she heard Neo's voice and remembered the extent of the situation. With all of the strength she could muster, she returned to her feet and looked right at her. Her head was about to explode and her body felt like it was melting. Neo couldn't help but analyze Yang. She was obviously in pain and to make matters worse, she just dislocated Yang's shoulder so there was no way she could fight. "On second thought, let's just call this off." Neo turned her back and started to walk away. At that moment, Yang's eyes turned bright red as she zoomed towards Neo at full speed.

"I'm not done yet!" Yang kicked her in the back and sent her rolling the other way. When she regained her stance, Neo looked up with a smug look on her face.

"Perfect. I wasn't ready to quit just yet." She readied herself once again and returned to the fight.

The two of them threw punch after punch at each other, but none of them managed to land a blow. As the fight continued to go on, the others who were watching were starting to become entranced with it. They've never seen someone put up a fight against Neo and yet, here Yang was standing up to her with magnificent fashion. Even Neo noticed this sudden change as she was struggling to find an opening. Once she noticed things were different, she switched up her attack pattern.

She pulled out her sword and increased her attack range. However, Yang did not. She was so focused on hitting Neo with an effective attack that she forgot that she had a sword right behind. With this in effect, Neo had the rest of the fight in the palm of her hand. She kept her distance while still nailing Yang with the sword. As the fight started to take a U-turn, everyone started to lose interest. They all went back to their own things including Cinder. She walked back to the elevator and pulled aside one of her employees.

"Yes Mistress?"

"You said that that was a prototype, yes?"

"Unfortunately. Our development team is slowly figuring out better recipes for success. From what I've been watching, it seems as though we've only perfected the regeneration process. Everything else still needs to be discovered."

"I see. Make it fast. We can't afford to lose any more time."

"I understand. We will get on it as quick as we can." He bowed to Cinder and returned to his work area. Meanwhile, Cinder turned her head once more to see the results of the fight. Neo was still standing with Yang on the ground, desperately searching for air. She lost. Even though Cinder knew this would happen, she couldn't help but feel disappointed about the whole thing. Yang was progressing so well, but she can't have any weaknesses. If she does, she'll never become the weapon Cinder truly desires her to be.

Back over at the mat, a couple of guys pulled Yang off the ground and carried her to the infirmary area where they prepared the ice bath for her. Once it was ready, Neo prepared the rest. She undressed Yang and carefully put her in the tub. After that, there wasn't anything else to say so she turned off the lights and left her alone in the darkness.

…

What the hell is wrong with me? Why can't I do anything? I can't beat Neo, I can't protect my little sister… I don't even feel like I have a place in this world. Everything's been taken away from me. All I can do is stay here and train to the best of my ability… But… Is my best truly able to get the results that I'm looking for? It's been a year and I still haven't been able to beat Neo. No matter what I do, I just can't seem to get past her. I don't have that problem with anyone else here. Why is she the one exception?

When I really think about it, so many things have changed. I can't believe I used to be a worthless little girl. I mean, even now I'm that way, but at least I'm trying to change that. It's been nearly 3 years since I've lost my parents and seen Ruby. It's been 2 years since I've talked to Coco. I wonder how she's doing. After all, she was my first real friend in high school. Wait, there was something pretty recently too, wasn't there? Wasn't there someone I used to talk to? I don't know why I can't remember. It seemed like we were close, but I just can't put my finger on it. I do know that it was a girl. Yeah… I used to see her all of the time and she was really cool. I wonder what happened. I can't really move right now so I can't really check my phone if there's any evidence of this person, but perhaps I'm just imagining things. So many things have happened that I can't quite comprehend. I just need to relax. I hate sitting in this tub like a worthless idiot.

…

Blake was walking down the street. She, herself, also decided to stop going to school. There wasn't any reason to go back. Yang wouldn't go back so there was no purpose. Staying on that subject, she avoided contact with Yang, for some reason. On the other hand, Yang didn't make any effort to contact her so she felt like there was something going on in between them. As she continued to think to herself, she passed by a broadcast building that caught her attention.

"Alright, let's get to out late breaking news."

"Thanks. In other news, the city police chief was found dead in the street late last night. No one has been able to discover who the perpetrator is, but detectives and forensics are working their hardest to figure it out. If you have any knowledge of this murder, please contact us as soon as possible. Thank you for your time."

"What?!" The people around her looked at her funny as she silently slipped out of sight. "The police chief is dead. How could this happen?" At that moment, she pulled out her phone and scurried through her contacts until she found the person she was looking for. She dialed the number and started to get anxious. "Yang, please pick up."

End of Chapter 22


	23. Chapter 23

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 23

Taking Names

With her first mission a success, Cinder knew that she was ready for harder ones. Unfortunately, she also knew that she couldn't push this girl too hard too fast or else she would get relapses of what was actually happening. She shaped her up to be this way and she couldn't lose everything she worked for because of one small mistake.

At her company, everyone was hard at work. Most of them were tying up any loose ends that may come up, some of them were working on their information for their agents to get back into the field, and a small handful of them were working on Cinder's request. It was hard to make it successful since this kind of thing didn't actually exist. This required them to experiment time and time again with little results. Cinder tried to remain patient with them, but it was just too hard for her. Yang was on the verge of becoming her first true success, but because of who she was as a person, there was something holding her back. This treatment would eliminate that restraint.

Back with Yang, her training was slowly getting better. Neo was still a huge roadblock for her so that kept her motivated in getting stronger. At the end of every week, Yang would get a new assignment from Cinder. For everyone else, they thought this was a little strange since missions always came straight from Floor 10. Yang didn't mind. She just headed up to Cinder's floor without question. Every time she went up there, Cinder reminded her of her goal and etched that saying into her head.

This method was definitely working since Yang always finished it to the letter without any problems. With Cinder on the sideline, she got to witness the cause of Yang's actions. People were dropping like flies everywhere, the news people were so confused, and the authorities had no chance of stopping her. Everything was working out in her favor. Then finally, one day came around that brightened Cinder's face.

"Ms. Fall, I believe we've cracked the code." She smiled and turned her chair.

"Well, let's check it out." She exited her room and followed her science staff to their quarters. Once there, they explained the formula and the effects. Obviously, they couldn't give her real life results until they actually tested it out. That's when Cinder had the idea that would change things around there. "Prep the formula. Tomorrow morning, we'll commence testing."

"Of course."

…

When the next morning, Cinder waited on the training floor of the building for Yang to arrive. Once she did, Cinder asked her to follow her and Yang did so without questions. It was a little hard for her though since she was going into a new area of the building. When they arrived in the science of the building, Cinder walked over to the scientists and checked with them once more.

"How's everything looking?"

"We are good to go, Ms. Fall."

"Perfect. Yang, if you would be so kind as to head over to the table." Yang looked across the room and saw a table. They were restraints where her arms and legs would go and immediately questioned this whole thing.

"What's going on?"

"Don't worry about it. I promise everything will be fine." Yang looked at the table and then at Cinder before walking over to it. She lay on the table as the scientists strapped her in. Once she was in, it raised her to where her body was upright. Yang checked the restraints and noticed that they were nearly impossible to get out of. This went on for a bit longer until Cinder walked up to her and lifted her chin up. "This is the power that you've been waited for. Take it and save this world." Yang's eyes shot wide open as Cinder disappeared into the darkness of the room while another scientist came out with a syringe gun.

"Doctor, we are ready to begin trials." He nodded his head and turned towards Yang. At this moment, Yang was starting to get a little tense. Already, things were getting weirder than she first anticipated. The doctor rubbed her arm with some alcohol and then proceeded with the test. He jammed the gun into her arm and Yang immediately felt the effects as the liquid entered her body as a tremendous rate.

Meanwhile, the doctors monitoring Yang's body were in constant fluster. The effects were nothing like they were expecting. Her heart rate was going off the chart. They looked at her and saw that she was nearly going insane. Her body was out of control as she tried to escape the restraints. It was a little difficult to tell, but the veins in her arms were popping out as if she was some kind of power lifter. Her eyes turned red like that one time against Neo. No one knew what was happening. The only person who was enjoying this was Cinder. She got out from behind their desk and walked towards Yang.

"You've done it." The scientists were so confused. Everything they were examining told them that they had failed.

Yang's struggling went on for another minute or so when something suddenly shifted in the other direction. Her body suddenly returned to normal as she went limp. The whole room went silent as Cinder walked up to Yang and brought her head up. When she did, Yang's eyes were bright red and she could easily tell that there was something different about this girl.

"What is your name?"

"Yang Xiao Long."

"What is your purpose?"

"To save this world."

"Do you have any ties to this world?"

"Only one… My little sister."

"Whom do you serve?"

"Cinder." At that moment, Cinder smiled and turned around. She headed back to the elevator when the scientists tried calling out to her. She didn't really acknowledge them. She just said to finish up their examinations and send her up to her office. After that, she disappeared from sight. With Cinder gone, they continued with their work. They monitored her heart rate, muscle capacity at a cellular level, and noticed so many abnormal things that they were expecting.

After their check-up was complete, Yang slowly walked to the elevator and returned to Cinder's side. When she arrived, she knelt down in front of her desk and waited for any kind of order. As she waited, Cinder was sitting on her chair and staring out into the city. She couldn't believe so many of her plans were finally playing to her liking. The last piece was the rogue agent, and this was what Yang was for. She spun her chair around and got up.

"How do you feel?"

"I don't believe that is a question that needs to be answered. I'm here so that automatically tells you the answer."

"Hm, I like that answer. Anyway, I have something special in store for you, but I need to make sure that you're truly up for it." She reached behind her and grabbed the pile of files on her desk. "These are your next assignments. They will let me know if you're ready to be the face of this company."

"I'm ready, Cinder. I can promise you that." She suddenly tossed the files on the ground and let Yang rummage through them.

"Then prove it. I expect these to be completed by the end of the night." Yang opened up all of the files and scanned everything as quickly as she could. There were a total of four targets she needed to get to and they were all spread out in the city. However, she didn't let this discourage her. She remembered their information and left the room without another word.

After she left, Cinder returned to her chair and looked out towards the city. So far, Yang was more obedient than before. She looked a lot stronger too so that made her feel better.

Knock, knock. "Excuse me, Cinder, are you in?"

"Yes I am. Come in, Neo." Neo walked into the room and stood right in front of her desk. "Did you happen to see Yang on your way up?"

"No. Should I have?"

"No, it's not of much importance at the moment. But when you do see, you'll be quite surprised. Anyway, I called you up for a something important."

"Of course. I'll do anything you ask."

"You know the rogue agent is out there right." Neo nodded her head. "And you know that they are stopping progress in my plan, right?" She nodded again. "Well, I initially was going to give you this mission, but I decided to tweak it a bit. Track them down and report their behaviors as best you can. Leave everything else to me."

"Of course." After that, Neo left in silence.

At this point in time, there was nothing to complain about. Everything was working in her favor. Neo was her stronger accomplice and Yang was shaping to be everything she hoped she would be. All Cinder had to do was sit back and watch her plan roll along with no stops along the way.

"Play time's over, Blake. You made a big mistake leaving me because now, I'm coming for you."

End of Chapter 23


	24. Chapter 24

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 24

A Turn of Events

 **Note:** I hope you're all enjoying this story. Personally, I'm having a really great time writing this. I also didn't realize that this story would be so long. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the update and be sure to let me know how I'm doing.

Yang kept the mentality in her head that she needed to get this done quickly and cleanly. Unfortunately, these targets she was given weren't going to be an easy way through. Her four targets were major people in the city: A leader of extremist group against the city (the mayor), the leader of the anti-law mafia (the city judge), the leader of the deadliest gang in the city (the chief marshal), and any civilian of her choice. That last part was a weird one though. This job of hers required her to eliminate threats to this world and yet, she was being asked to kill some random person. However, that's when the drug started to kick in. That struggle suddenly went away in the blink of an eye. Yang set her mind to it and started her mission.

For this mission, she was given any type of equipment she wanted so she went the simple path and chose the sniper rifle. This allowed her to examine her target from afar without getting into any sticky situations that might pop up. Her first target was the chief marshal.

She managed to pick up on his whereabouts. He was leading a convoy to investigate the sketchy part of town. He was in the lead car all by himself. This only made Yang's job easier. She went ahead to find a good spot. Once she tracked his trajectory, she set up shop and waited for the right moment. Right before they took a left turn, Yang took the shot and sent his car rolling into a nearby poll.

"One down."

Her next target was the city judge. This was another easy target. She found her leaving the courthouse by herself since her job required her to stay late and finish up any leftover paperwork. Yang did the same thing and finished the job without any troubles. After that was the mayor who a little more difficult. She ended up causing a bit of a scene, but got away without a hitch. The final target was the random civilian. This took the longest amount of time.

As she remained in the shadows, there was only one thing going through her head. How the hell was she supposed to kill some random civilian? That wasn't part of her job description. The longer this caused her to think, the more it started to make sense. This was probably a test that Cinder made up. All she had to do was wait for something to happen and then strike before any criminal could get away.

Once she cleared her head of any confusion, she found a good vantage point and waited for any suspicious activity. It was until some loser snatched a woman's purse when Yang decided to act. She shot him down a few feet from where the woman was, and with that, her mission was complete. She packed up and headed back to the Cinder's company. When she arrived, she walked through Cinder's door and saw her waiting for her in front of her desk. Yang took her knee and told her that her mission was a success.

"I'm pretty impressed. That took a lot less time than I expected."

"I know you don't expect much of me, but…"

"Don't think like that. I have the highest expectations for you. This was all just a test to see how adaptable you could be, and it turns out that I have nothing to worry about." She turned around and grabbed another file off of her desk. "I have a very special mission for you and you're the only person who can do this. As you know, there is a rogue agent who managed to escape our grasp and is now aiding those scum hidden within the city. Your mission is to find them and bring them back here for interrogation." She handed the file to Yang and told her to rise.

"Is there anything I need to be concerned about?"

"Not anymore. This agent stands no chance against you. You're a different person. Never forget about why you're here and that'll help you succeed. You may begin as soon as you're ready." Yang looked at the profile. It was Blake. However, she didn't realize this at all. The name was changed and the drug that was inside of her body was preventing her from remembering those things.

"If I may, I'll take my leave now."

"Good luck."

This time, Yang decided to take a less-eager approach. Cinder didn't give her a timeline so there was no need to rush. She just wanted to make sure that she was prepared for this. She returned to her floor and gathered up anything she might need. Strangely enough, one of the things she checked was her phone. Right from the start, there were multiple calls from Blake, but Yang simply ignored it. At the very of her notifications, there was a message from a number that she didn't recognize so she decided to check it.

 _Hi Yang, Uncle Qrow finally got me a phone and the first thing I decided to do was message you. I don't know if you'll get this or not, but I just wanted to talk to you. Also, I wanted to remind you that my birthday is on the 28_ _th_ _of September. I'll be turning 15 and Uncle Qrow wants to do something special for me so he's taking me to see the Huntsmen show at the Theater in town. He sent you an invitation, but it got rejected saying that you weren't living there. So I'm messaging you in hopes that you get this and that I'll be able to see you. I love you and I hope you're doing fine. Your little rose3_

At that moment, Yang looked over at her calendar and saw that it was September 28. There was no way she could miss this. All of this time, she hasn't been able to contact Ruby and now was her chance to see her again. She packed up her things and left the building as quickly as she could. When she got in the elevator, she ran into Neo.

"Jeez, someone's in a hurry today."

"Can't talk. Have somewhere to go."

"Huh, what a pest."

Once she made it out of the building, she totally forgot that it was late and that she show was probably. However, this didn't stop her. She disappeared into the shadows and ran as fast as she could towards the Theater.

When she got there, something was happening outside of the theater. She was on the roof so she got a good vantage point. She sharpened her eyes to see what was happening. A whole bunch of police and ambulance were surrounding the building. One man was being restrained who was causing a ruckus. As she got a better look at it, she noticed that it was Uncle Qrow. This made her widen her eyes. She looked a little bit to the right and saw a small body on the ground. Next to the body was a red cloak that very accurately resembled the one Ruby loved so much. When the ambulance people lifted the body onto the gurney, it was clear as day that it was Ruby.

Out of nowhere, Yang suddenly felt a stinging sensation on her neck. When she reached for where it felt, she felt blood. She tried turning around to see if anyone did it, but by the time she did, she started to grow unconscious until she fell flat on the ground.

"Ru…by."

End of Chapter 24


	25. Chapter 25

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 25

The Complete Picture

Yang's eyes slowly cracked open as if she just suffered the biggest hangover in human history. She tried bringing her hands up to her face, but there was something preventing her from doing so. She tried kicking out her legs to stretch, but they were also restrained. Once Yang realized that she couldn't do anything, her mind and body suddenly snapped out of its trance to where she was wide awake and completely alert. She looked around and saw that she was in a pitch black room with only a light that shined down on her. When she looked down, she saw restraints on her ankles and wrists.

"What the… How did this happen?" She jerked her body in every direction in an attempt to break free of the restraints, but it was no use. Whoever did this to her was smart enough to use quality materials. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Yang, what are you doing?" She finally heard the voice and nearly snapped in that direction.

"Who are you?! Come out, you coward!"

"I can't believe you don't recognize my voice."

"Stop playing games. Who are you?!" As Yang continued to break free, the faceless voice finally walked into the light. When Yang looked up, she immediately lost control and tried everything she could to attack them. "You! You're my mission. You're going to die! Aaahhhhh!" It was Blake. She stood right in front of Yang and watched her suffer.

"Yang, why are you doing this?"

"Don't talk to me like you know me! Get these things off of me so I can complete mission."

"I'm sorry, but that won't happen. This is all my fault. I've let this go on for too long and it's about time I put an end to this."

"Shut up! Aaahhhh!" Yang continued to struggle within the chains while Blake knew that there was no way she was going anywhere.

"Yang, look me in the eye. Tell me you recognize me." Yang looked up for just a second, but didn't say a word. By that point, Blake knew that there was something wrong. "What happened to you? What did Cinder do to you?"

"What are you talking about? Cinder made me stronger… Strong enough to kill you, the rogue agent." At that moment, Blake took a step back in disgust.

"Is that what she told you? Is that what you believe?"

"I don't believe in anything. All I care about it my sister…" Suddenly, Yang stopped her struggling and allowed the room to go silent. "My sister… She's dead, isn't she?"

"I'm sorry Yang…"

"You killed her! You bitch! Aaahhhhh!" Yang resumed her struggling while Blake tried to calm her down.

"No, you have it all wrong. I wasn't the one who killed her. I was trying to save her."

"Shut the fuck up! You're a liar, murderer, a traitor… I swear, after all of this is over, I'm going to kill you with my bare hands."

Slap! Out of nowhere, Blake stepped up to Yang and slapped her across the face. The sound of the slap echoed throughout the room until it finally went silent once more. Yang turned her head and looked at Blake with the most angered look on her face. On the other hand, Blake almost had a look of sadness. Regardless of looks, Yang was now out for blood and whatever this girl said to her, Yang wasn't going to listen to any of it.

"Listen to me! I'm not the one who killed your sister. It was someone else. I tried my best to save her, but I was too late. When I arrived, she was already gone. I couldn't have done anything or else authorities would assumed that it was me. Believe me when I say this, I'm not the one you want to kill."

"I don't believe anything you say. Cinder told me that you're the traitor trying to bring this world to its knees. I'm not going to let that happen." She jerked her body once more, but it was useless.

"I guess you're not ready to talk." At that moment, Blake clenched her fist and drilled it into Yang's gut. Immediately after, Yang grew unconscious and Blake left the room. "Cinder, what have you done?"

…

It was midday and Cinder was in her usual spot. She was sitting in her chair overlooking the city. It wasn't until she heard a knock from her door that interrupted her little private time. She turned around to see Neo walking in, but immediately turned back around.

"I did not call you in. Do you request an audience with me?"

"Yang went out yesterday, but I haven't seen her since. Has she gotten in contact with you at all?"

"Oh? What is this? A hint of concern on your part?"

"Of course not. I just like to know where everyone is so that things will go by more smoothly."

"She's currently on her special mission. I wouldn't worry about her too much. I've given her complete jurisdiction on this. She will report when she deems necessary."

"How can you be so sure? She just started being a field agent not too long ago." At that moment, Cinder turned around with such vigor.

"Why does this concern you? I've been running this whole operation for how long and not once have I been discovered. If you think I'm losing my ability, please speak up. I can guarantee that this operation will be a success and if you want to stand in my way, go right away. I'm not afraid to blow away a fellow colleague right now." Neo slowly took a step back as she barged in on something she shouldn't have. She then got on her knee and looked at the floor.

"My apologies, mistress. I had no intention of sticking my nose in your business. Please forgive me." Cinder leaned back in her chair and spun back around to face the city.

"Leave. I'm still placing you in charge of observation. If you see anything on our rogue agent, report as soon as possible. I don't want anything being left out."

"Of course." Neo returned to her feet and left immediately.

"Come out Blake. It's time to play my little game."

…

Back at her hideout, Blake fell onto her bed and threw her arm over her eyes. She couldn't believe this was happening. Her own mother sent someone else to kill her. This was part of the reason why she left Cinder. Cinder never could see it, but Blake knew that she was psychotic. She used lies and fear to control everyone around her and Blake was just lucky to have seen this in time. Now, she was forced to be in hiding, waiting for her opportunity to get close to Cinder and end all of this fear and crime. And now, with her latest discovery, she was determined to return Yang to how she used to be because this girl that was with her now was someone she didn't even know existed.

As she was in her room, she could hear nothing but silence from the entire place. Yang was still unconscious, but that wouldn't last long. She knew that Cinder did something to her and now, it was her job to figure out how to counter whatever it was. She didn't want to see Yang suffer like this so she quickly got off of her bed and got to work. Things like this weren't really her strength, but she had to do it for Yang.

End of Chapter 25


	26. Chapter 26

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 26

A Bond Never Created

 **Note:** Hey everyone, I'm back and I hope you guys had a great Halloween weekend. This past week, a lot of things happened that I don't want to get you guys involved with. Anyway, here's the chapter update and I hope you enjoy it. I did manage to plan out more of my stories so I hope you guys like where things will go from here. Thank you for being so patient with me. I hope I don't let you guys down.

Blake had a pretty good assortment of medical supplies that she used to figure out what was wrong with Yang. Of course, she couldn't do this just from speculation. She decided to talk with Yang to see if she would tell her anything. Unfortunately, Yang wouldn't budge. She remained silent and only gave Blake horrible looks. However, this didn't discourage Blake. She was going to figure out the truth without Yang's consent. She took a blood sample which nearly put Yang into an anger storm. When she looked back at Yang, her eyes were blood red which made Blake turn away quickly.

"Who are you," she asked as she walked away.

Once she returned to her room, she got right to work. She used her bit of knowledge she used from her time working at Cinder's workplace as well as some research she did on the side. Unlike Yang, Blake spent a lot longer at Cinder's workplace including other departments aside from the research and training areas. Blake actually got to spend some time with the science department which made her really wary about the whole operation. They did things that she couldn't describe even if she wanted to. All she needed to remember were the things that could help her save Yang.

As she worked by herself, she started to hear Yang's struggles coming from the other room. She was screaming as loud as she could. The chains that bound her where clanging up a storm, but Blake had to ignore it. She knew that once this was all over, Yang could be with her and away from Cinder's hands.

Days went by and Blake's progress was slow. She was definitely getting somewhere with her serum, but her relationship with Yang continued to plummet. She had to keep Yang's nutrition up, but Yang refused her offers. It wasn't until Yang was about to starve when she finally accepted the food. That was the only time when Yang was silent when Blake was in her presence. This was also the time Blake used to try and get some information out of her.

"Yang, you know you can talk to me. I'm not going to hurt you like that woman." She still refused to respond. "Do you still not trust me?" Yang shook her head. "What can I do to make you trust me?"

"Let me out so I can kill you." Yang spoke those words so quietly and yet, they left such a scar in Blake's heart.

"I… I can't do that. Not yet. You're not well right now, but I'm trying everything to find a way to bring you back to normal."

"You don't know anything. I have nothing to say to you." Yang turned her head and indicated that she no longer wanted any more food. Blake gestured once more, but Yang was unresponsive. At that moment, Blake sighed and returned to her room. Even though Yang only spoke a minimal amount of words, it made Blake even more worried. She wanted to know what Cinder did to her and why did didn't do this to her. Blake was an eligible candidate for whatever Yang went through up until she managed to escape on her own. So the only question that needed to be answered now was why.

More time went on and Blake was slowly starting to put together a formula to counter Cinder's work. As she did that, she also examined Yang from afar to see her behavior would give off any hints as what Cinder did to her. Unfortunately, nothing she did gave away anything, but there was one thing that Blake noticed. Yang's eyes were red. In the past, she always remembered that soft purple color that reflected all kinds of light. Red was such an opposite color in Yang's case so she wrote that down and kept it in the back of her mind.

Instead of creating one formula to fix Yang, she decided to go with small doses of experimental fluids. Of course, there was nothing was put Yang in any harm. Yang was just made that Blake was treating her like a lab rat. However, Blake insisted that all of this was for her own good. Eventually, it got the point when Yang was used to all of this "needle into the skin stuff" to where she stopped fighting back. Even though she didn't fight back, she had to speak up and ask something very important.

"Blake, why are you even doing this? I don't know you. You say you know me, but does that even matter? Why do this for someone who doesn't remember you?" For the first time, Yang spoke some words that actually had a deeper meaning to it.

"I'm doing this because you do know me. I'm just convince that Cinder did something to you to make you forget about me."

"That's stupid. Cinder raised me to save the world. There's no reason for a memory such as a person to be wiped out." Blake suddenly finished up her usual doses and bowed her head.

"Yang, have you ever considered Cinder to be wrong?" Out of nowhere, Yang started to fight back. She thrashed her arms and legs all over the place like a wild animal. Blake didn't know why she was doing this, but she was certain that Cinder was the trigger. And then, that's when Blake started to believe that Cinder was the cause of this whole thing. She ran back to her lab area and tried to finish up the last parts of the final antidote.

As she did this, Yang was struggling more than usual. It just didn't make any sense. Right as Blake though Yang was returning to normal, she was becoming more like a monster and less of the person she once knew. She quickly drew up everything she's been observing and created the final antidote. She made just enough so that Yang could take all of it. She put it into a syringe and returned to Yang's side. When she got there, Yang was still behaving like an animal. Her body was dripping with sweat and her eyes were redder than ever. This was her last chance to do something.

"I'm sorry Yang." At that moment, Blake pushed her head back and jammed the syringe right into her chest. She injected the liquid into Yang's body which caused an immediate response. Her body slowly relaxed and Yang closed her eyes. When Blake felt Yang's resistance stop, she let go of her body and took a step back. "Yang, are you okay?" There was no response. She just watched as Yang's head slowly fell forward as her entire body slouched over itself. "Yang?"

There was absolute silence for a few minutes. During this time, Blake was starting to get a little worried that her antidote was too strong to serve as an actual antidote. However, when she heard the soft clanging of the chains against the chair, she started to regain hope. Yang slowly lifted her head up. Her eyes were still closed so it was impossible to tell if her antidote worked. Blake took a cautious step forward and called out to her once more.

"Yang? Are you okay?"

"Blake, is that you?" Blake gasped as she covered her mouth. On the other hand, Yang leveled her head and opened her eyes. That menacing red shade slowly faded back to that soft purple that Blake remembered so vividly.

"Yang, it's me. I'm here." Blake took another step forward and knelt down in front of her.

"W-Where am I?"

"I brought you to my hideout where we could be safe. Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I think so." There was clear confusion in her eyes, but Blake could tell that this was a completely different person than the one a few minutes ago. "Why am I chained to this chair?"

"It was just precautionary. You look a lot better now?"

"What do you mean? Was I sick or something?"

"No, you were perfectly fine." Blake pulled out the key to the chains and started to unlock them. Thankfully, Yang didn't do a single thing. She just remained in the chair, still wallowing in confusion. "It'll be fine. I promise."

"Blake… Yeah, I do remember you." Blake couldn't help but smile at this comment. It such a heartbreak to hear that Yang didn't remember her, but now, she didn't have to worry about it anymore. "Wait a second. My sister… Ruby… Yeah, Ruby… Where's Ruby? My sister." The worst thing that could ever be asked was finally asked. The thing that brought them together could be the thing that tears them apart after their little reunion.

End of Chapter 26


	27. Chapter 27

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 27

The Pain in Truth

"You're sister Ruby, she's…" Blake took a deep breath. There was no way she could sugarcoat it or beat around the bush. The whole truth had to come out as straight as could be. "You're sister's dead. I'm so sorry, Yang." Blake lowered her head as the room went silent. Nothing could break the silence. She wanted to ease Yang back to her normal self, but she knew that Yang couldn't return to normal after hearing news like that."

"No, that's not possible. She's with my uncle. He would protect her." Her voice started to tremble. "How could she die?"

"That's why I was there that day. I heard plans to kill your sister and I tried to prevent that from happening. Unfortunately, I didn't get there in time. It's all my fault. I'm so sorry." Out of nowhere, Yang jumped out of the chair and grabbed Blake by the collar of her shirt.

"How could you let this happen?! If you knew, you should have been able to stop it!" Blake was struggling to find the words as Yang's emotion was pouring onto her and there was nowhere to step in without seeming intrusive.

"Yang, I didn't…" At that moment, Yang let go of her shirt and gently pressed her head against Blake's chest.

"I'm sorry. This isn't your fault. I'm blaming you for something that you had no control of. If anything, this is my fault. I wasn't strong enough to protect. I couldn't even be with her in her final moments. That's my sin. I couldn't reunite with my sister one last time."

The whole situation was taxing on Blake. Yang was all over the place with no signs of telling her where she would go next. One moment, she was angry and the next, she was sad. All Blake could do was remain silent and listen to her every word. However, there was something that she needed to tell Yang. It was the one thing that couldn't kept secret anymore. The only thing is that it would hurt Yang even more, but Blake had no intention of hiding anything from her. As Yang continued to cry on her chest, Blake grabbed her by the shoulders and placed her back on the chair.

"Yang, I think there's something I need to show you." Blake stood up and went into one of the rooms where she wheeled out a TV. "It's about what you've been doing all of this time. Cinder told you that you were a "world saver," but I have to tell you that she was lying to you." Yang's eyes suddenly shot wide open.

"What are you talking about?" Blake didn't respond. She just turned around and turned on the TV.

Right as she turned it on, there was a broadcast of the recent murders in the city. Yang recognized all of them as they were the people Cinder told her to eliminate. However, their descriptions didn't match Yang had in the files she was given. The mayor, judge, and chief marshal were all mentioned. That's when Yang connected the dots. The information she was given was fake. The people on the broadcast were all official news people so there was no way Blake could lie about something like this.

"Do you understand what you've done?" Yang suddenly looked down at her hands and started to panic.

"I'm… I'm a murderer. Nnoooo!" She slammed her hands against her head and started to squirm around uncontrollably. Blake quickly went to her side and tried to calm her down.

"No, you're not a murderer. You didn't know. You can't be blamed for what that woman did to you. It's simple. She brainwashed you and you had no control of what you were doing." Yang was slow at responding to her.

"Still. I'm the one who killed those people." As much as Blake wanted to ease the pain, there was no denying that fact. Yang was skilled enough to not leave any evidence of her being the one who killed them, but she was the one who did it in the end.

"Yang, please don't…" She suddenly stood up.

"I need some time alone." She walked towards Blake's bedroom and laid on the bed. As Blake watched, she felt as if her heart was being ripped in half. This girl was going through so much and there was nothing she could to help her. Everything that could cheer her up was in the past and completely insignificant. The more she thought about it, the more she started to think if there was anything she could do to help this poor girl.

After a while, Blake went to another one of her rooms where all of her research stuff was. On one side of the room, there was a pin-up board with all sorts of things. On the other side of the room was a desk with a computer. Blake walked over to that side of the room and took a seat, simply to slam her head on the desk. She was pissed that all of these things had to have happened, and that they had to happen to Yang. This girl didn't do anything wrong and yet, she's the one paying the price for it. If anything, Blake wanted to be the one who should be punished. Looking back to when she was with Cinder, she did many things that were wrong, but she didn't know it. That was the same thing that Yang did. Knowledge is power and Cinder's been using her special strategy all of this time… And it was working.

Once she was over her self-loathing, she got back on her feet and walked over to the board with all of her information. The biggest things there was Cinder's office and some of her main associates. Blake had a picture of Cinder and Roman. Those were the only two she had concrete images of. There were other members, but she only had the names. Neo was one of them. On the outsides of the board were pictures of past events that Blake was certain that Cinder had taken part in. The most recent one was Ruby's death. There was a blurred out picture of someone suspected to have left the scene right after Ruby was killed. The person was small and appeared to be a girl. However, that was all she could pull. Blake took the picture in a fraction of a second so there wasn't any time to focus it. That was her only lead at figuring out who did this to Yang. She was now determined to find the killer and kill them, for Yang's sake.

Yang was in a vulnerable state right now and Blake didn't want her to strain herself over anything. If there was something she could do to help, she would do it in a heartbeat. At that moment, she realized that Yang was all by herself. She suddenly left the room and ran to her bed where Yang still was. Her body was shaking as she faced the wall, blocking out any outside distractions. Again, this sight broke Blake's heart. This poor girl has absolutely nothing now. All she has are memories. She gently sat down on the edge of her bed and looked down at Yang.

"Yang, are you okay?" She didn't respond, but Blake wasn't really expecting one from her. "I know a lot of things have happened, but I really need you to forget about them. Forget about Cinder, forget about everything you've done for her; she means absolutely nothing. I don't know if this will help, but I'm actually her daughter." At that moment, Yang slowly turned over in shock.

"Really?"

"Unfortunately, that was the one thing I wanted to hide from you, but I don't see any purpose in doing so anymore. Like you, I worked for her, but realized that she was doing things for the wrong reasons. That's why I'm the rogue agent." Yang widened her eyes.

"But, if you're the rogue agent, then that means…"

"Cinder executed an order to bring her own daughter in under any circumstances."

"Why would she do something like that?"

"Her work has secrets she would like to remain as secrets and I'm one of the few who know about them. When I left, she did everything she could to get me back, but all of her attempts have failed."

"So you're on the run?"

"Not anymore. After figuring out that she took you in as her own, I couldn't let that happen. All of this time, I tried tracking you down. Now, you're with me so the next part of my plan can finally happen."

"Plan? What are you talking about?"

"I want to bring down Cinder's business once and for all so that she'll never hurt anyone ever again, especially the one person I love." Yang finally raised her eyes to meet Blake's.

"Love?" Blake sighed and grabbed Yang's hand.

"I love you."

End of Chapter 27


	28. Chapter 28

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 28

A Confession

"You love me?" Blake nodded her head despite the fact that she said something completely out of line. "Since when?"

"I know this may sound weird, but ever since you first said hi to me when we went to school together. The way you smiled and that pure heart of yours just told me that there was something special about you." Blake's words came right from her heart, but when she got a good look at Yang, she could tell that she was taken by surprise by this sudden confession. "I'm sorry if what I'm saying is too much for you." At that moment, Yang got up from the bed and faced the other way.

"It's fine. I think I just need some alone time." Without another word, she walked out of the room in silence while Blake sat there in complete shame. She knew she crossed the line, but she wanted Yang to know that she cared for her. She's already witnessed enough horrid treatment towards that girl so she thought this would be the best route to take. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way.

For the next few hours, her hideout was dead silent. Blake was almost afraid to move because if she did, she might disturb that peace otherwise known as silence. She occasionally looked around to see if Yang was wandering around by herself, but it was no good. She went to some secluded part of hideout to think about what was going on. For Yang, this kind of reaction was totally justifiable. So many things were thrown at her to where nothing really made sense. This time she had to herself was for her to figure things out on her own. Unfortunately, Yang didn't really have a good track record with doing things on her own because where she's at now, no one would call it a good place to be.

Blake wanted to find Yang and help ease her mind with all of the things she's been told, but she knew that that wasn't the best thing to do. As bad as it sounded, she had to leave Yang alone. Yang would come to her if she really wanted to be with someone.

On the other hand, Yang was being torn apart by everything. Cinder lied to her, she killed numerous innocent people, Blake confessed her feelings for; there was just too many things to think about. All of this time, she thought she had set her mind on the right path, but now she's with a school acquaintance that's telling her that's been living a lie. It was so difficult for her to pick what was right and what was wrong. For her, personally, she knew she couldn't make a decision since the one's she made have all backfired on her. The only thing that didn't seem like a lie was Blake's confession. Compared to everything else, there was really no reason for her to lie about that. It just felt weird that she told her in such an awkward situation. Yang's self-reflecting lasted for several more hours until she quietly walked back into Blake's room.

"Yang." Blake immediately stood up from the bed, eager to hear if she would say anything to her. "A-Are you okay?"

"I think so."

"Look, I'm really sorry for telling that last thing. It's just that it's been on my mind for so long and I thought that I would never be able to tell you. With you so close now, my instincts just told me to do it. I hope you're not creeped out." Yang was silent for a while before responding to her.

"You said that you fell in love with me back when we were in school together. How can you still feel that way after everything I've done? I'm a horrible person." Yang's shoulders started to shake.

"No you're not." Blake made her way over to Yang where she firmly gripped Yang's shoulder. "None of those things were your fault. You were controlled by someone else. They're the one who's responsible for it. You don't need to put any blame on yourself."

"It's like I've said. I'm still the one who did it."

Snap! Out of nowhere, Blake slapped Yang across the face which allowed Blake to finally get a good look at her face. She could see her beautiful, purple eyes clouded in pain and suffering. She had never seen anything like this and it nearly brought her to tears.

"Please stop thinking like that. You're here now… with me. Here, you can make a difference. You can right the wrongs that you've supposedly done. I know it may not make sense, but I promise you…" Yang came right back with something unexpected as well. She suddenly pressed her lips against Blake's and stole a kiss. That kiss lasted a few seconds until Yang ran out of breath. "What was that?" Yang looked Blake right in the eye and grabbed her wrist. She then threw onto the bed with force. "What are you…" Yang climbed on top of her with tears falling from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, but… Can I ask a favor of you?"

"Of course. Anything." Yang's body was shaking uncontrollably. Blake had no idea what was up, but she was determined to help Yang to the best of her ability.

"I've thought long and hard of my situation and… I'm in pain." Tears continued to escape her eyes as her body shook more and more. "I've lost everything. My little sister is dead. I have to home to go back to. All of this time, love and a home have been things I've been longing for." She paused again as her emotions were starting to overcome her. "Blake. I want to experience love. I want to feel like I can come home to you. I want to feel safe. Please help me." Unable to hold herself any longer, she collapsed onto Blake's body as limp as could be. That moment just now was like walking through the gates of hell. Blake saw it all. This girl was being torn apart with her even knowing, and now, she has finally given up. She was exhausted. Sleep wasn't the issue though. All of the things she's gone through have finally taken a toll on her. As she lay on Blake's body, Blake couldn't help but let out a few tears herself. It was almost as if she could feel the pain inside of Yang's body.

"Yang, I promise." Blake gently placed her hand behind Yang's head and kissed her forehead. "I'll protect you. No one is ever going to hurt you again. I promise."

With those last words, Blake closed her eyes and feel asleep, letting out one last tear of sadness. The time for her to be weak was over. She had to be strong for this girl. She wanted to be there for her whenever she could no matter what. She wanted Yang to know that she was the one to come home to; the one she could smile at and tell about her day. Blake knew she had to be her savior now.

…

When morning came, Blake was the first one awake. She quickly remembered that Yang was still asleep in her arms. She looked down and noticed that she was holding onto her pretty tight. Her body was quite warm, but she was still shaking. It wasn't cold at all. She was still scarred by everything that has happened to her in the past few days. Blake knew this and stayed by her side until she woke.

This girl seems so strong, but now she's as fragile as a newborn baby. How could I leave her like this? I can't. It would be wrong of me to do that. I need to make sure that she can trust me. She has to know that I have her back no matter what. No, that's not good enough. She needs to know that I'm willing to risk my life in order for her to be happy. Too much as happened to this girl without her deserving it. It's time that she was at peace. I can give that to her… I have to give that to her.

Blake closed her eyes once more and squeezed Yang even tighter.

Another hour or so went by when Yang finally opened her eyes. Thankfully, she remembered what happened the night before because she held onto Blake as if she was about to fall. Blake opened her eyes, but remained silent. She waited until Yang said something. She couldn't be pushy at a time like this.

"Blake? Are you there?"

"I'm right here, Yang. There's nothing to worry about. You're safe." Blake suddenly stroked her fingers through her hair to ease her mind a bit.

"Blake." At that moment, Yang started to tear up again. Blake could feel this tremor and squeezed her even tighter.

"I got you. Let it out. It's okay." Yang cried so much in such a short amount of time to where Blake's shirt started to get a little drenched. However, she didn't let this bother her. She just held Yang in her arms and made sure that she was safe. "It's alright. Calm down. I'm not going to let anything hurt you again." Yang sniffled some more as she pressed her head against Blake's chest.

"So warm."

End of Chapter 28


	29. Chapter 29

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 29

Behind the Scenes

Yang completely breaking down and Blake's promise to Yang were unexpected on both sides, but the two of them were able to get through it. Unfortunately, Yang wasn't recovering much even with Blake by her side almost every minute of every day. She was starting to run out of ideas. She's said everything she's needed to say and yet, she feels that Yang needs more than that. That was the only problem though. What more needed to be said before this girl started to recover? What else did Blake have to offer in order for this girl to feel like this is home? Blake thought long and hard about those two things as she remained by Yang's side.

…

Back at Cinder's office, she's been busy with many things. Her workplace has been hard at work doing so many things that they couldn't name them all if they were asked. However, Cinder had a system. She assigned one small thing to a certain amount of people and then gave another set of people a different task that somehow corresponded to the other one. It was a complicated process, but things were getting done. Cinder, herself, was even hard at work. She oversaw everything going on just to make sure that there weren't any mistakes going on.

The only department that had an "easy" job was her research department. They were scrambling to find any information they could on the rogue agent. Since there was no reason to hide it now, Cinder gave them Blake's name, but it didn't prove to be much help. Cinder was stumped on this since Blake was smart enough not to leave too many things behind when she escaped from Cinder's clutches. This angered Cinder of attacking her own researchers out of pure annoyance. This was the first time her workers ever saw this side of her and they frightened by it. This only made them work even harder without a single question.

Her agent department probably had one of the tougher jobs. Their training had intensified due to the fact that Blake was making moves and stealing precious agents. Cinder didn't want this to go on and that's why they were being pushed to the limit. None of her normal agents were at the skill level of Blake so they had to train harder than they've ever trained. Neo was in charge of most of their training, but while she was doing that, Cinder had a special request for her on the side that no one was aware. She pulled her up her office and spoke about it in more detail since Neo was kind of confused about it.

"So what's this about a special request?" Cinder walked over to her desk and sat down, staring out of the window.

"Yes. You're aware of what Yang went through while she was here, right?"

"I believe so. You had so kind of drug tested on her?"

"Very good. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite perfect yet and that's why this workplace is doing what it is doing. Since you're the best agent I have in hand right now, I wanted to ask you… No, I need you to do this for me." She spun her chair around and put a small box on the table.

"What is that?" Cinder opened up the box and inside was a small vile like the one that Yang used during her fight with Neo.

"This is what I've been working on. This is the perfect formula." Neo started to walk towards it, but Cinder immediately shut it before she could get a good enough look at it. She then spun her chair back around to face the window. "I'll be honest here. Blake was something special. She trained like no one else and go the results that no one could ever recreate. In your case, you just don't match up against her. If you were to encounter her and fight, you would lose. However… With the help of the perfect formula, you will be the ideal human being. Nothing will ever be able to take you down." Cinder spun around once more and looked Neo right in the eye. "Are you prepared to cross over into another dimension?"

"Of course." There was no hesitation in her voice whatsoever. She stood up straight and eyed Cinder right back with the same amount of intensity.

"Hm, I like it. It is destiny that you are amongst my rankings." She stood up and walked around her desk. She wrapped her arm around Neo and walked her out the room with the intention of heading to her scientific department.

…

Blake finished up making some food for Yang as she put it on a tray and walked it back to her room. When she arrived, she saw Yang sitting upright on the edge of the bed. Her head was down, but her body looked as calm as ever. There was no shaking or anything. Blake couldn't help but wonder if she had finally recovered. She set the food down on the table next to her bed and knelt down in front of Yang.

"Yang, are you okay?" Blake was about to brush her hair out of the way, but immediately halted that gesture. She still believed that it was too early for physical contact. She retracted her hand, but when she did, Yang grabbed it out of the air and slowly raised her head. "Yang?" Their eyes met for a brief moment when Yang turned her head to look at their hands. Yang's grip loosened as she intertwined her fingers with Blake's.

"You're so warm." Blake was lost, but made sure that Yang didn't know that. "Is this what home feels like?" She pulled their hands to her face and gently pressed her cheek against them. "I just don't get it." This was her chance to step in and let Yang know that she can hear her.

"You're right. This is home. When you're with me, you can feel safe. You can let it all out to me. No matter what you need to say, I'll listen to it. I'll be your shoulder to cry on. You don't have to be afraid anymore. I'm here for you Yang, and I'll never leave you no matter what. I promise. You can trust me." Yang's head dropped once again, but she was still in the conversation.

"Can I ask you something selfish?"

"Of course you can."

"Could you give me a hug?" Blake was caught off guard by this request. It almost seemed out of character for Yang, but there was no way she was going to say no. This girl still needed comfort and she was prepared to give that to her. She got closer to Yang and wrapped her arms around her body. Yang immediately wrapped hers around Blake and squeezed her tightly.

"How are you feeling?" There was no response. She knew that it was too early to ask. That was going to be her one and only mistake she would make.

"I want to find Cinder." Blake's eyes widened at the sound of her voice.

"You want to what?"

"I want to find Cinder, and I'm going to kill her." Blake had to intervene. She managed to break free of Yang's hug, but she still kept her at arm's length. She gently put her hands on her shoulder and looked her in the eye.

"You do know what you're saying, right?" Yang nodded her head. "So you do feel better then?" She nodded her head again. She couldn't believe. The first actual things that came out of her mouth were those words. However, her reaction was completely justifiable. It was just that it seemed as if she was still hurting from all of this.

"However…" Blake's eyes widened even more. "I can't do it on my own. I know that and I was wondering… Will you help me?" Out of nowhere, Blake threw her arms around Yang's neck and squeezed her tight as she could.

"Yes. Of course I'll help. I made a promise to you, didn't I? I won't let anyone hurt you again. From now on, we're doing this thing together." Yang was caught off guard this time, but didn't let it affect her. She just smiled and wrapped her arms around Blake's body.

"Thank you so much Blake."

"You're welcome. However, we can't go out there just yet. We're going to have to train."

"I know."

"Okay." Blake sighed. It wasn't for the fact that Yang was finally feeling better. It was the fact that she was going to face her mother once again. Only this time, she had the intent of killing her. Cinder wasn't going to play nice so Blake had to fortify her heart for everything that was to come. The good thing, though, was that Yang was by her side. Being with her now made her feel invincible. If Yang wanted to set things right with that woman, she knew that the two of them would be able to stand a chance.

End of Chapter 29

 **Ending Note:** Thank you so much for reading. I just wanted to give you guys a heads up. Take this how you will, but it was not intended to act like a spoiler or anything of that nature. This story is "dark," but this next chapter will be very different. I won't say anymore. Take that in whatever way you want. I just hope you enjoyed the chapter and that you come back for more.


	30. Chapter 30

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 30

Creating That Bond

 **Note:** I could have made this chapter into multiple ones, but then I would just restate the same things over a span of multiple chapters and I know you guys don't want that. Instead, I'll do it all in one chapter so you guys don't have to feel like things are dragging along. Also, I am trying to make these chapters a little longer because I see the light at the end of the tunnel. It'll be a while before this story is finished, but I do know where I need to get to. I hope you're enjoying the story and have fun with this update.

After that interesting discussion, Yang was finally able to get back on her feet. Blake was so close to letting out some tears, but she promised that she would stay strong for this girl. If she was strong then yang would follow in her footsteps and eventually achieve the thing she wants most. With the two of their minds set, they trained to face Cinder. They knew that that entitled many things. Their physical and mental abilities had to be greater than ever before, and Blake knew exactly how to do that.

Since she was Cinder's best agent, no one could match up to her in a fight. Now that she was going against Cinder, she could train Yang to the best of her ability so that nothing bad happens. Yang was already a pretty good fighter so all Blake had to do was fine tune the little things Cinder would easily use to her advantage. Blake escorted Yang to her training room and immediately got to work.

To start off, Blake asked Yang to spar with her to get a sense of Yang's abilities and she definitely didn't underestimate her. Yang put up a pretty good fight, but Blake saw a lot of flaws that she was surprised that Cinder didn't point out to her. That's when Yang told her that Neo was the one who oversaw her training. Hearing that name sent a chill down Blake's spine. She worked with that girl for only a short amount of time, but when she did, she had a bad feeling about her. That look in her eye always gave off a menacing aura. However, Blake didn't let that affect their progress. She broke down the necessary things and carefully worked with Yang.

Her stance and physical strength were very good. It was her situational awareness that was lacking. Blake gave her the rundown of multiple fighting probabilities and told Yang that it was crucial that she learned these as well as the habits and certain fighting techniques. For Yang, it almost felt like she was back in school. For Blake, she was brushing up on everything she was trained to do. She knew that in the past, no one could take her down except Cinder, but since she's been away from that world, she's a little unsure of her own abilities. Together, they made the perfect partnership. They taught each other as well as learned things together. The longer they did this, the more Blake started to feel good about their chances.

As their training started to get on the right track, they were able to talk more about strategy and other important things. However, strategy was always at the back of their minds as there was something else that caught their attention.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what was Cinder working on when you left?"

"I'm not quite too sure about that. She kept me in the dark on that one. It was weird because she nearly told me everything. All I know is that it had a lot to do with her scientific department."

"Oh course it did. She's been mobilizing that area of her workplace to do things that are just not right." Yang bowed her head. She completely understood the whole "not right" thing since Cinder did something like that to her. "Just like what happened to when I brought you here. Do you have any idea what that was she did to you before I brought you here." Yang thought long and hard, but it was all just a blur. She explained that Cinder made this her number one priority at the time, but that was it. That discouraged Blake a bit since that could have gave them a little more information about what they were walking into.

"I know I'm not giving you the things you want to hear, but I don't there's anything we should be worried about. We have you. You were Cinder's finest. She should be the one who's worried."

"Haha, thanks Yang. I guess that's true." Yang was obviously just trying to lighten the mood. The two of them knew that Blake's skill alone wouldn't be enough to successfully complete their mission.

…

It wasn't very extreme, but their relationship started to get a little more intimate as they continued to train. Yang started to feel more comfortable with Blake to the point where she was a lot closer to her whenever they talked. She was also a lot more affectionate. She hugged her almost all of the time and gave her occasional kisses. Blake didn't really know how to respond to this change of character, but played it well by returning every gesture Yang gave to her. This change let Blake know that Yang finally trusted her, and this trust was key to making their plan a success.

With that sense of trust in play, they were finally able to work on strategy. The two of them both agreed that a surprise attack would work effectively. It was just their way of going about it would be the toughest part. That's when Blake had the bright idea to walk right through the door. Yang, of course, had to object to this, but when Blake told her what she actually meant, the plan seemed to be a keeper. Since Yang was still considered a member of Cinder's workplace, she could walk right in without anyone thinking about her in any other way. Blake would pose as a capture which would allow them to go straight to Cinder's office. Both of them know that security in that room is inexistent so that would be the perfect time to strike. Once the plan was decided, they went over the other minor things that they needed to make sure to do. Acting was a big part of this and the two of them had to make sure to sell it when the time came.

With the strategy was checked off the list, Blake and Yang spent the rest of their time training. Yang was improving leaps and bounds, but Blake still had the upper hand on her. Yang's vision was getting better, but Blake was still an unknown fighter to Yang. It was almost as if she was fighting Neo. Every move she did was something different without any weakness to it. However, this motivated Yang to get better. She vowed that before they executed their plan, she would beat Blake.

On their off time, which seemed to increase, Blake and Yang talked about normal things; things that friends would talk about. Life, troubles, goals; all of those things were things that they were able to talk about. Since Blake never got a chance to talk to Yang at school, this was her first time hearing about who the true Yang, and looks definitely could be deceiving in this situation. Yang talked about becoming someone people could look up. She wanted to be known by everyone that she was the one who could make the change. She wanted to be the change that this world needed. It was obvious that being Cinder messed with her head a little bit, but now that she was away from her, her mind was able to calm down and reveal her true self.

On the other hand, Blake didn't have an answer quite like Yang's. The only thing she could say was to be away from her mother completely. She told Yang that that woman didn't do anything for her and that it was best if she never saw her again. As she continued to about this, Yang could see the pain in Blake's eyes. The pain of knowing that her own mother was not actually a mother, but this towering figure that she couldn't escape. At this point in time, the two of them were on the same boat heading for the same destination: Salvation.

Eventually, Blake invited Yang's intimate behavior more as time started to wind down. They knew that this plan of theirs was going to change everything. Love, in all meanings of the word, is a pretty strong weapon and if their bond was strong enough, it would help them complete their mission.

With one night left, Blake and Yang decided to have one more sparring match. No matter what the outcome, this fight would be their last. They stood on opposite sides on the mat and prepared themselves. Since they were going to use swords in their attack, they decided to input kendo swords to try and recreate that sense of danger. They bowed to each other and began. Blake was the first one to strike, but Yang was able to dodge it. She immediately swung her sword at Blake's stomach and hit it dead-on. The impact of the hit caused Blake to retreat. However, Yang was going to use this to her advantage. She charged Blake at full speed with the intention of swinging for her head. Blake lowered her body and prepared her defense. Once Yang was in striking distance, nothing happened. Yang just ran right by her which totally confused Blake.

"Gotcha." Blake's eyes shot wide open as Yang appeared in front of her with her sword pointed at her neck. "I finally did it."

"Not quite."

"Afraid to admit defeat."

"No, you're wide open." Blake suddenly dropped to the ground and swung her leg and Yang's. This caught Yang by surprise as her legs gave out underneath her. Blake then climbed on top of Yang and put her sword up to her neck. "However, I'll admit you got me. Just be sure not to let that happen when the time comes." Blake gave her a smile and Yang smiled back. "Looks like we're done for the day." Blake was about to climb off of Yang's body when she suddenly reached for her face. Yang turned Blake's head back towards her as she sat up and kissed her. Blake's eyes were wide open as this happened. She didn't know how to respond except to just let it happen. Once they ran out of breath, Blake was the first one to speak/

"What was that for?"

"What? You should be used to that by now."

"After a fight? Not really." At that moment, Yang grabbed Blake's hand and held it to her chest.

"It was to thank you for everything you've done." The change in mood ensnared Blake's attention. "You found me in that pit of darkness and pulled me back towards the light. At first, I thought that there was no coming back, but you reminded that there is hope in this world. You cared for me and nurtured me back to my original health. I can't be any more grateful than I already am."

"Yang, it's okay, you don't need to…"

"I guess what I'm trying to say is… Let's make love." She couldn't believe it. Was Yang seriously making this kind of suggestion?

"What? Don't be ridiculous."

"No, I'm completely serious. I want to be yours until whenever we are torn apart."

"But Yang, I…"

"I understand if you don't want to. I made a really strange request." Yang tried to climb off of Blake's body, but Blake grabbed her by the wrist which made her look back at her.

"No. Just… Let me get ready."

"Okay." This time, Blake was the one who gave Yang the first kiss. After that, she returned to her feet and went over to the bathroom to take a shower. As she showered, she was so busy thinking about what was going to happen between them. By taking this step in their relationship, it's obvious that Yang is serious about them. Blake just found it difficult that she change so much because of her. However, she didn't want to let this opportunity to go by. After this night, their bond would be stronger than ever and they would be able to face Cinder with no fear whatsoever. Once she was done, she returned to her room where Yang was waiting nervously. Blake thought Yang would be ready for this, but this sort of thing made both of them nervous. Blake sat down next to her as the room went completely silent. After a minute or so, Blake finally spoke up.

"If you're not up for this, I totally understand. To be honest, I don't really know what I'm doing either so…" At that moment, Blake reached her hand towards her cheek and turned her towards her.

"Then I guess I'll lead." Blake started with a kiss as she gently leaned Yang onto her back.

As the two of them continued to kiss each other, they knew that there was something different about it. They were so gentle towards each other and they could feel love going into each other's bodies. After a while, Blake slipped down her body and slipped her hands underneath Yang's shirt. She pulled up everything and kissed her breasts. Yang softly moaned to herself as Blake's gentle touch was so stimulating. Her kisses turned into sucking on her nipples which increased Yang's pleasure tremendously. Once Yang's breathing picked up, Blake slowly kissed Yang's body all the way down to her pants. Blake unzipped Yang's pants and pulled them down. At the same time, she removed her clothes as well and put her face right in front of Yang's pussy. Before she began, she looked up at Yang who gave her a subtle look of approval.

Blake gently rubbed her fingers around the lips of her pussy and slowly put them in. immediately, Yang's back arched upwards for this feeling was something entirely new to her. She could feel Blake's fingers wiggling around inside of her and she thought she was going to crazy from this feeling. Her moaning grew louder which made Blake start to worry.

"Am I hurting you?"

"No, it feels good," she said with heavy breaths.

"Should I keep going?"

"I don't know… I feel something in my waist that I just can't describe."

"I can't really describe it either, but I think we should do it together." Out of nowhere, Blake stuck her legs in between Yang's and slowly pressed her pussy against Yang's.

"What are you doing?"

"Just relax."

Blake rolled her hips forward and backwards very slowly at first as the two of them felt that same sensation at the same time. Even though Blake knew a little more about this than Yang, she never actually knew what it felt like until she was doing it now. Their pussies smacked together as Yang started to lose control. Her moaning as loud as could as Blake was starting to get anxious as well. She held Yang's leg to gain more leverage which proved to be effective. Blake started to moan even louder as her voice matched Yang's. Their faces were red as their hips were starting to cave in.

"Ah, ah, Yang."

"Blake, it feels so good."

"I'm think I'm going to… Ah, ah… Ahhhh!"

"Aaahhh!" With one more hard smack against each other pussies, they came at the same time as a shock was sent through their entire bodies. They lost all of their strength as Blake's body collapsed onto Yang's. Their breathing was heavy and they couldn't even speak for a few minutes. Once they calmed down, Yang was the first one to do anything. She put her hands on Blake's cheeks and kissed her once more. "Now we're connected."

"Yeah, we are." They smiled at each other. "Actually, Yang, I was still meaning to ask you. D-Do you still want to go through with this? I understand what doing this means to you, but we can just run away together. We can forget about Cinder… All of this. We can start our own life together."

"Thank you Blake, but this is something that I have to do. If I don't, my little sister's death would have been completely worthless." Blake sighed.

"I understand."

"If you're worried, there's no need to be. I know we'll be able to make a change tomorrow." Blake nodded her head and leaned against Yang's body as the two of them closed their eyes and slept the night away.

End of Chapter 30


	31. Chapter 31

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 31

The Gates of Hell

 **Note:** I hope you had a great time with that little change of pace chapter. Things are going to return to normal after this. I'm really enjoying writing this story and I'm hoping you're all enjoying the story as a whole. There's not much else to say so here's the update and I'm sorry for it being so late. This week is a busy one for me.

When morning came around, the two of them woke up bright and early and prepared everything. The strange thing was that they did nothing together. They got ready separately, gathered their belongings separately, and ate breakfast separately. Nothing really happened between them after last night. They just mutually agreed that it would be best to reconvene when it was time to execute their plan.

The tension at the hideout was incredible. Blake was stressing over seeing her mother again. However, she kept telling herself that she wasn't her mother anymore. Any woman who treated their child the way Cinder treated Blake was unfit to be called a mother. This thought alone motivated her. Cinder was always a figure in the back of her head that held her back. If they could be successful and kill Cinder, things would finally change for her. However, it would also bring about change in Yang. Blake wanted to see Yang happy and to eliminate this horrible person from her life would be incredible. Cinder has done too much to Yang for her not be a cripple in her life. That's what Blake wanted most of all.

Yang was also busy in her mind. That desire to kill Cinder was still holding true… If she killed her, her life would finally be the way it was supposed to be… She could be with the person she loved without worrying about who might be after her… This world could finally be safe again… Cinder has brought about too much pain and suffering that this was the only way… Killing Cinder was Yang's resolve and she was determined to see it through till the end…

Morning turned to afternoon and the two of them finally met up for final preparations. It was obvious that they were both nervous, but seeing each other again eased the burden on their shoulders.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Let's just go over the plan once more."

"Okay." Blake had to take a deep breath as to calm herself down. "Here's how it'll go down. You'll take me in as your prisoner and that'll automatically tell the lobby people that you're still on their side. They all know me so they'll direct you to Cinder's office. The entire time we're in there, we have to act serious. Don't show any mercy towards me. The more I look a prisoner, the more we won't be noticed. Once we get into Cinder's office, that's when we'll execute the plan. I'll take front since it'll catch Cinder off guard. That's when you'll take over from there. If Neo is with her, I'll take care of her. Everything sound good?"

"Yeah." Yang took a deep breath to calm herself down as well. "There's no going back from here. We can do this." Yang suddenly wrapped her arms around Blake's body and squeezed her as tight as she could.

"We will be success. And I promise to return your life back to you." Blake returned the gesture. Once they were calmed down, Yang "chained" Blake's hands behind her back and threw two swords over her back: One for her and one for Blake. It was finally time to change the world.

Right as they felt the warmth of the sun, they knew that they were ready. It's been a while since they actually stepped outside since Blake was so worried about being found that she didn't take any chances. As they walked into town, they noticed that things were totally different. Things seemed a lot grimmer and everyone seemed to be scared of something. Although there weren't many clues as to what it could be, Blake and Yang knew what they were afraid of.

All of the nervousness that they were feeling were now forced to vanish. They were entering enemy territory with nearly no way to escape. Cinder's workplace was in sight so the two of them put their game faces on as they trudged closer and closer to their destination.

When they arrived, the doors slid open and they walked through. Everyone in the lobby was completely shocked to see what was happening. Their own agent who went dark for so long managed to catch the rogue agent. Yang kept her head high while Blake played the part and looked completely defeated. They walked to the elevator and the lobby people gave her access which allowed them to go straight to Cinder's office. During their ride up, the two of them were silent. They couldn't talk or else their plan would be ruined. They just took one more deep breath and readied themselves to face the true monster behind all of this.

The elevator door opened as the people guarding Cinder's room were in shock. They received word from downstairs, but they had to see it for themselves, and they definitely saw it for themselves. Without saying anything, they opened up the door to Cinder's office and walked in. Yang stopped at her normal spot with Blake just a step in front of her.

"I completed my mission Cinder." Her chair slowly turned and revealed that face to the both of them.

"You sure did, and I gotta say that I'm impressed. For a second there, I thought you were planning on betraying me. But then again, you would never do that. I've provided you with everything you desired." Blake was fed up with this. As she entered the room, she noticed that Neo wasn't in there with them so this made their plan go even smoother.

"Now Yang!" Yang threw the sword at Blake as she unchained herself and readied herself to pounce at Cinder.

Shink! Blake's eyes shot wide open as she slowly looked down to see a sword pierced right through her lower torso. She then turned her head to see that Yang was the one who did it. Yang jammed the sword even further through her wound which caused Blake to cough up some blood. That's when Yang aggressively removed the sword and walked over to Cinder's desk. Meanwhile, Blake collapsed onto her knees and then fell onto the floor, holding her wound.

"Yang, what are you doing," she asked with a weak voice.

"Haha. My darling daughter… Did you really think that she would ever fall victim to you? I pulled her out of that abyss and provided her with everything she ever wanted. What did you do? You simply filled her head with lies and empty words. Of course she wouldn't help you." Blake's eyes shot even wider as she struggled to look up at Yang.

"No. You're lying." At that moment, those soft, purple eyes turned red and that's when Blake realized what was happening. That drug that Cinder used on Yang was something entirely different. It tricked her into thinking she was cured. "Yang, please…" She reached out her hand, but Yang just walked towards the door without even looking at her. "Yang." A tear ran down her face as she lay there completely defenseless.

"I'm so sorry sweety." Cinder knelt down and gripped Blake's hair with such force. "Not everything goes according to plan. You're the prime example. You could have been the perfect child, a perfect killer… Unfortunately, you decided to desert me." Cinder suddenly tightened her grip and tossed Blake to the other side of the room. Her body took a hard hit as more and more blood started to escape from her body. "Oh jeez, can I get some medics in here? I'm not losing this one… Not yet," she said with a smile.

The doors burst open as a pair of medics run to Blake's side and work on her wound. They injected her with a muscle relaxant so she wouldn't escape. Once things calmed down, they put her on a carrier and walked her out of the room.

"Take her down to the basement. I've prepared everything for my sweet little daughter's return." They went to the elevator and headed down to the basement. Meanwhile, Cinder walked out of her office to meet up with Yang who patiently waiting from her. "I'm very impressed that you managed to carry out the mission."

"Of course. I told you that I wouldn't fail anymore."

"And you didn't disappoint. At this point, it's only appropriate for me to grant you something you most truly desire." Yang didn't even have to think.

"I wish to oversee our prisoner at all times."

"What's this? Have you fallen for our little deserter?"

"Of course not. She has information about my sister that I want to get from her. Will you allow me to be in charge of her?" Cinder took a step back and analyzed this little conversation. Blake must have somehow told her things about her sister which Cinder wished would have stayed quiet.

"If that is your request, I'll accept it. However, she's still my prisoner and I will choose to do with her what I want."

"I understand."

"Good. Now, let's go see if your prisoner has been situated nicely." The two of them walked to the elevator and headed down to the basement.

When the doors opened, Yang was introduce to a long, dark hallway with only lanterns every 20 feet or so. Cinder guided her down the hallway until they reached one cell and one cell only. The guards opened the door and the two of them walked in. Blake was completely naked. Her legs were chained to the ground and her wrists were chained and hung from the low ceiling of the cell. She was knocked out for the time being so it was impossible to get any information out of her right now.

"Guards, you are relieved. Yang will be in charging of watching over this prisoner." There was no response. They simply walked off in silence. "As you can see, she'll be here for a while. There's no way she could ever escape. I made this basement especially for when my sweet, little daughter would come home to me." Cinder walked over to Blake's dangling body and gently ran her fingers down the side of her face. "I'm glad she still has the same beauty as her mother. For now, we'll leave her alone. Things will reconvene in the morning." They exited the cell and returned to the surface.

"Yang," Blake whispered. She gently shook her wrist and legs and knew that she was confined. One more tear rolled down her face as she realized that this was change that was bound to happen. It wasn't a good change, but it was a change nonetheless. "Why?"

End of Chapter 31


	32. Chapter 32

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 32

Hidden Intentions

 **Note:** I'm so sorry for pulling a fast one on you guys. That's just how I imagined the story to unfold. I hope you're not too mad with me.

Yang started her day off pretty early. She got ready and immediately headed down to the basement. She was finally ready to commence her interrogation. All of the truths behind her sister would finally be revealed and maybe, she could avenge her sister's death. All of this darkness revolved her death. Yang was going to let it be in vain. She was determined to live for Ruby now. She completely Cinder's request. Now, she has her own life to live and it all starts with Blake.

She took the elevator down, but encountered no one else. It was just her. Once she made it down to the basement, she quickly walked to Blake's cell. When she got there, horrible sounds were coming from inside.

Snap! Crack!

"Aaahhhhhh!"

Yang didn't really want to know what was happening, but it was obvious that it was some kind of torture going on. There was a whip involved so Yang thought it best to just wait until whoever was in there was finished. The waiting ended up lasting longer than she thought. When the door opened, she stood up straight to greet whoever it was and it turned out to be Cinder.

"Cinder."

"Hello Yang. You're here early."

'Yes. I was planning on starting my interrogation with our prisoner."

"I see. Well, I definitely warmed her up for you. However, I wouldn't go in there right. She's in bad shape. I think you should head up to the kitchen since she hasn't eaten in a while. Once you do that, you can come back down and do whatever it is you need to do. Sound good?" Cinder closed the door behind her and wrapped her arm around Yang's shoulder as she guided her back to the elevator and up to the kitchen. "Some of the staff should already have her food her food made. Can't have her dying on us, can we?"

Cinder gently slapped her on the back to push her into the kitchen. This was the first time Yang had ever been here so this was kind of a learning experience for her. It was definitely a nice kitchen. There was a lot of space with minimal amount of cooks in the room. Eventually, one of them turned their heads to see Yang walking around aimlessly. They called her over and handed her the food. Right as they handed it to her, she looked at it was not impressed. It looked as though it was food they stole from a school cafeteria. It sent a chill down her spine, but she quickly realized that as long as Blake got some food, nothing else mattered. She was a prisoner now so her only treatment was to make sure that she didn't die on them.

Yang headed back to the elevator and returned to the basement. The keys to the cell were hanging on the wall next to the door so Yang unlocked the door and walked. As she took her first step inside the cell, the lights turned on and revealed a small pool of blood underneath Blake's body. Her body was still strung up by the chains. Slash marks were all over her body as blood was slowing rolling down her body.

Right next to the door on the inside of the cell was a mechanical box with a couple of buttons. One of the buttons released the chains that were linked to Blake's wrist. She pressed that button and the chains fell the ground, only giving enough slack so only Blake's fingers could touch the ground, nothing else.

"Here's your food. Eat up." Yang tossed the tray of food in front of Blake, but Blake didn't respond. She didn't even try to sit up for the food. She just laid in her own pool of blood as Yang patiently waited for an answer. "Hey, can you hear me?!" Yang knelt down in front of Blake and gripped her hair. As she held up her head, she saw more of what Cinder had done to her. One of her eyes were completely banged up while the rest of her face had bruises everywhere. Yang suddenly let go of her hair and let her head fall onto her arms. "Hurry up and eat. There are things I need to ask you." She stepped outside to give Blake some alone time.

Yang didn't really know why she was outside. She could have easily waited her to finish her food while being inside of the cell. There was just something telling her that it was best to do it this way. She ended up waiting a few more minutes until walking back inside the cell. When she did, the food was still there and Blake was still laying on the ground completely still.

"Hey, that wasn't a request. Finish your fucking food." Yang suddenly kicked Blake in the gut. Blood splashed everywhere, but she didn't react. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Why?"

It was very soft, but Yang managed to hear her soft voice.

"Why? What are you trying to ask me?"

"Why… are you doing this?"

"You're truly an idiot if you don't know. All of this time, I tried to find you and you eventually came to me. I played it up as if I actually had feelings for me and you fell for it. That made my job a lot easier to come back here and complete my mission. I can't believe someone's who's rumored to be so skilled is this stupid. I'm so glad that that act of mine is over. It was making me sick."

Hearing those words come out of Yang's mouth nearly made her sick. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. It was true though. She didn't catch any hint of betrayal on Yang's part. She was the fool for thinking that an experiment of Cinder's could be so easily cured.

"So are you in the mood to talk now?" Yang walked back to the box and pressed the button again. The chain holding her wrist returned to the ceiling as Blake's body was hoisted back to its upright position. "Since it doesn't look like you're eating, I'll go ahead and start with what I have to ask you: Why did you kill my sister? She didn't do anything wrong. She didn't deserve death. Who are you to decide who lives and dies? You don't get to make that decision. Because you did, someone like me has to suffer. It's obvious that you don't understand any of this. Answer me when I ask you: Why did you kill my sister?" Yang waited for a response in furious anger. She wanted to hear what Blake had to say about all of this.

"I… I didn't kill your sister."

"Fuck you!" Yang had enough. She clenched her fist and punched Blake across the face. "You didn't kill my sister… What a load of shit! You were the only one there at the time. You were the rogue agent that I was assigned to look for. Tell me how you didn't kill her!"

"I didn't kill her."

Yang was amazed by the complete stubbornness on Blake's part. This time, she punched Blake's gut and caused her to cough up some blood. She then pressed her fingers to her cheeks and eyed Blake with the deepest sense of anger and rage.

"Try to keep this act going and see where it leads you because I promise, when all of this is over, I'm going to kill you myself." Yang let go of her face and stormed out of the room, taking the tray of food with her. Right as she got outside, she chucked the tray against the wall in anger. "Aahhhhh!" Shortly after her little fit, she went to the elevator and headed up to Cinder's office. The entire trip up, she was silent. She didn't really want to speak or think about anything until she received more news from Cinder. When she arrived, she blazed through the door without a care in the world.

"Hello Yang, how was the interrogation?"

"Stupid. She didn't talk at all. That… thing is full of lies."

"Hm, so it seems like she's not in the mood to talk at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Even with my vast array of techniques to get someone to talk, she still didn't give way. I was quite impressed myself, even though I'm the one who raised her. I was so sure that she'd open up you. I guess I was wrong."

"I plan to continue interrogating her."

"Of course. I have no objection to that. How are you going about it?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, come on Yang. Every interrogator knows this answer to this question. Are you doing good cop or bad cop?"

Yang took a second to think back to how things went. As she thought about it, she was on the fence. The things she did were on the both sides. She started off nice by giving her the food, but then immediately lashed out at her for not answering her questions.

"Um, I don't think I was either of them."

"Interesting. So keeping your composure still isn't one of your strong suits?"

"No," she said as she dropped her head.

"Well, it's no problem. Let me make a suggestion. I plan on interrogating her myself. I will be the bad cop and you be the good cop. Let's see how this works out. I already know she has ill thoughts about me so let's keep all of the negative energy in one meeting. Then you could come in and ease the mood. However, you have to say calm. If you can do this, eventually she'll tell you everything you need to know."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Don't worry," she said as she leaned back in her chair. "It may not seem like it, but I know my daughter quite well. She's very compassionate so she'll slowly accept your way rather than mine."

"I see."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to get to." Cinder stood up from her chair and headed out the room. Yang watched her leave and was completely confused. This woman was so strange. The way she talked and the way she projected herself towards other people was just something else.

End of Chapter 32


	33. Chapter 33

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 33

Time of Solace

 **Note:** Hey everyone, I hope you all had an awesome and safe holiday season. I'm just letting you know that this story is coming back to its original update schedule. Also, I doubt it'll be for a while, but the end is in sight so I'm hoping this story is worth the read. Thank you so much for reading and enjoy the update.

"Answer me, you fucking bitch!" Even though Yang raised her voice, Blake would not answer her. "I don't know how long you plan on keeping up this act, but you won't be able to do it for much longer." Yang stormed out of the room in frustration, but right as she walked out, a guard handed her the normal tray of food for their prisoner. Since Blake was now Yang's responsibility, she had to do this tedious job. She walked back into the room, threw the tray on the ground, and released the chains that held Blake's body upright. "Eat up." Right as Yang was about to walk out, she heard a soft voice.

"I can't."

"What did you say?"

"M-My arms are badly hurt. It's impossible for me to eat."

"So what are you trying to say?"

"I'm hungry, but I can't eat. C-Could you help me out?"

"Are you serious right now?"

"Please. If you do this, I promise to answer your questions."

Yang looked down at that pitiful girl and could see that she was honestly hurting. These past few days have been hard on her since both her and Cinder have been interrogating her and Cinder is definitely a lot tougher than Yang. She sighed and walked back into the room. She sat down next to Blake and started to feed her. Blake was slow at eating since everywhere was in pain. With every bite she chewed, tears rolled down her face. Yang did everything in her power to avoid that horrible sight. Unfortunately, she had to look at her sometimes since she was feeding her. However, she had to fight through this since Blake said she would answer her questions. After her meal was complete, Yang immediately got down to the questions.

"So Cinder said that you're the rogue agent. How much information did you take with you when you left and how much did you share with other people?"

"Nothing else that I haven't told Cinder. As for other people, I told no one else. I knew that it was best to stay invisible so I avoided contact with others."

"Interesting. What about my sister?"

That's when Blake's eyes shot open. She's been purposely trying to avoid this question, but now that she made that promise, there was no way to dodge it.

"W-What about her?"

"Why did you kill her? What kind of sick person would do such a thing?"

"I'm telling you, Yang. I didn't kill her."

"You said you would answer my questions. Stop trying to feed me these lies."

"I'm not lying. It's like I told you. I was trying to protect her because I received information that her life was in danger. When I figured out her location, it was already too late. I'm sorry Yang. I wanted to save her. I really did. It pains you just as much as me."

"Shut up!" Yang slapped her across the face and stood up immediately. "Don't give me that! You have no idea what I went through. She was my only family… And you took her from me." Finally, Yang let out a few tears of sadness. "Why would you do that?"

"I…"

Before she could answer her, Yang stopped her midsentence.

"I don't want to hear any more from you. You're liar. You do the things you do to bring this world to its knees. But I'm smart enough to know that I have to stop you." She turned around and walked out.

"Y-Yang… It's not like that at all."

Yang walked to the elevator and decided to return to her room for the day. Once she got into the elevator, a message appeared on the screen asking Yang to report to Cinder's office. She wasn't expecting this detour, but couldn't say no to it. When she arrived, Cinder's door was already open which allowed Yang quick access to her room.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. I wanted to see how you were doing with your prisoner."

Yang bowed her head in shame.

"Not too good. I've been trying everything I can, but she just won't cooperate with me."

"It's completely understandable. She's an honorable person and won't speak out against her allies, assuming that she has any. I don't know why she would since she's outright scum now. Anyway, do you have any other plans aside from interrogating her?"

"No. She's my only priority right now. I hope you can understand my position."

"Of course I can. You've been put into a tough situation because of that girl so please… Take all of the time you need. I doubt you'll be able to find the killer since Blake couldn't even stop her, but whatever." A knock came from the door. "Sorry Yang, but I have another meeting right now. Let's continue this some other time."

"Of course." Yang bowed and headed to the exit. When she opened the door, Neo popped out from behind it and gave her another dirty look. Yang has been getting used to those lately. She was just confused as to why she was giving them to her.

After that meeting with Cinder, her day was done so she headed down to her room. When she got there, it seemed a little different. It just didn't feel the same even though no changes were done during her time away from the office. She just walked over to her bed and plopped onto her back. She threw her arm over her eyes and retreated to her thoughts. This time back at the office was hitting her hard. She had almost forgot about what went on at this office place. The people were so quiet and never wanted to talk. Cinder was always busy so being alone like this was how things used to be.

…

"Any news?"

"As of right now, no. But, I do need to tell you something very interesting." Cinder leaned forward in her chair and Neo took a step forward. "My plan worked."

"Which one? You have so many going on at once."

"This one has to do with the special request I asked of you."

Neo took a second to think about, but she still couldn't think of what Cinder was talking about.

"I sent you to kill Yang's little sister. When she went dark, she met up with Blake. I've managed to instill the idea that Blake was the one who killed her. Now, there's no way Blake will escape and there's no way Yang will defy me now. Everything is where it needs to be. All that's left is the final phase of the plan." She looked right at Neo.

"I'm guessing you're calling on me for this one."

"I am. I see two possible routes that we'll eventually take. One… You kill Yang and turn Blake into the ultimate weapon for this department. Two… You kill Blake and let Yang be torn apart."

"How does that work?"

"What do you mean?"

"How is Yang going to be torn apart?"

"Because she believes that Blake killed her sister. This is causing her to take responsibility for her. She also told me that if anyone was to kill her, it had to be her. If you take her out before Yang can, everything will be in place."

"But didn't you say that Yang had such potential?"

"That was just to make sure she was with us. It's obvious that she's a mistake. That's why these two routes will give us the results we need. All I need is for you to make a decision. So… What will it be?"

…

Yang grew tired of being in her room all by herself so she decided to get some more information out of Blake. She headed down to the basement where it was completely deserted. She peeked inside of the cell and saw Blake's body still hanging from the chains, completely motionless. She walked inside and could tell that her body was in horrible condition. Blood was stained all over her body. She had so many open wounds that were looking horrible. In this condition, she wouldn't last much longer. She suddenly turned around to grab some supplies. After a couple of minutes, she returned with a first aid kit and bathroom supplies.

"God, you're a mess." Yang grabbed the loofah and put some soap on it. She then scrubbed Blake's entire body until all of her blood stains were cleaned. Yang then grabbed the first aid kit and started to clean up her wounds. Thankfully, there wasn't anything too bad so she was able to do everything she needed. After that, she mopped up the floor and then gently lowered Blake's body onto the ground. "Feeling better?"

"Yang? Why are you here?"

"I couldn't let you die. There's still some things I need to hear from you. Are you willing to answer my questions?"

Blake was silent at first, but then she struggled to get on her knees. Once she was up, she looked at Yang with the most sincere eyes she's ever seen.

"I'll answer anything you ask me. But… Will you be able to listen to what I have to say?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I promise to tell you the truth about everything. However, the things you hear may not sit well with how your life is going right now. I need you to trust the words that come out of my mouth. I've never lied to you once. Why would I lie to you now when I nothing to gain from it?"

Yang crossed her arms and really thought about this. All of this time, she's asked such pointless questions without a second thought as to why Blake was answering her questions. This was the most Blake's ever talked ever since being held prisoners so this had to mean something. Yang sat down in front of her and looked her in the eye.

"If you uphold your part of the deal, I'll uphold my part."

End of Chapter 33


	34. Chapter 34

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 34

Revelations of the Unknown

"So, are you going to start?"

"I will." Blake took a deep breath and prepared to tell Yang everything she needed to know. Unfortunately, she knew that Yang might not be willing to hear the things that she was going to say to her. "Cinder is a bad person, Yang. She'll do anything in order to achieve what she wants and that's the world. She had one child and that was me. She attempted to make me into the ultimate killing machine, but it failed. I grew as a human being faster than she could create the science for it. That's how I became the rogue agent. Now that her technology and staff are better and smarter, she pretty much has what she needs. Her goal is complete."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What do the mean 'the world?' Are you trying to tell me that Cinder is some kind of power-happy psycho?"

"That's exactly what I'm trying to say. Aren't you getting it?"

"I'm trying, but I'm still not quite sure about you."

"Yang, please. You have to believe me. I wouldn't lie to you."

"Whatever. Continue with your story."

"Fine." She sighed and continued where she was interrupted. "All she needs is my body and her science team to complete their work in order for her ultimate weapon to be realized. Once she turns me into her weapon, I'll be forced to kill whoever and whatever stands in her way. That's what I mean by 'the world.' She believes that she's the highest being on this planet and that nothing can stand in her way. That's why I need you to believe me. If we work together, I'm sure we can stop her."

Yang was thinking over the words that she had said. All of this stuff was pretty intriguing. If Cinder truly was this kind of person, why hasn't she told Yang about this? That was the thing that was bothering Yang the most. In the beginning, she told Yang that she would be her place of safety. Why would she lie about that? Everything Cinder has done for Yang has helped her cope with everything she's witnessed in her own life.

"You're lying."

"I'm not lying!" Blake's voice broke through the silence of the cell. Tears were running down her face as she was running out of options. She told Yang everything she knew with the most honest heart and yet, it wasn't working. "Why won't you believe me?"

"Because Cinder…"

"Remember back to high school. You were the first person who ever said good morning to me. I never really acknowledged it, but you still continued to do it. You said good morning to me every day until something happened. I knew I had to help you in any way I could, but I was too late. You never showed up to school and I had no clue as to where you lived or anything like that. Believe me… Believe my heart. You cared about people enough to give a simple gesture to a complete stranger. Does that mean nothing to you?"

Yang was completely silent. Blake didn't know it, but she knocked Yang off of her feet. Yang couldn't think of the words for the situation so she just turned around and headed out of the cell.

"Yang, please! You have to… I need to save you! I love you!"

Yang didn't respond. Those words that came out of Blake definitely put an impact on her, but she was still iffy about the whole thing. Yang decided that she had to go confirm this with Cinder in any way she could. If Blake was telling the truth, Yang would try to get anything out of Cinder. If Blake was lying, Cinder would order for Blake's death at that moment. All Yang knew was that this was a turning point in her life. So many things were going on around her that she just didn't understand. She had so many questions and for the first time in her life, she felt as if she was nearing the place with all of the answers.

When she arrived at the top floor of the building, she was surprised to see that no one was working at the time. She looked around, but no one was there. This made her curious. She quietly walked to Cinder's door to knock on it, but was immediately halted by two familiar voices coming from inside of the room.

"I need your decision now, Neo. Time is short and if we wait too long, things may backfire on me."

"Alright, alright. I have my answer."

"Well?"

"I'll kill Yang. I think this way would be easiest, and plus, I've never really liked her anyway."

"Hm. I respect your decision. This way would be a lot easier since Yang is starting to become a hassle to me. You are free to complete this task whenever you feel free. The department has been notified so there's no need for any secrecy on your part."

"I understand. Well, I will take my leave then."

Yang's eyes widened as the door slowly opened. Yang knew she couldn't be seen so she dove into one of the dark corners of the lobby area and waited until Neo was gone. Once she left, Yang realized the truth of all of this. Blake was telling the truth.

"I have to get to Blake." Yang waited a few more seconds just to be safe until she ran to the elevator to make her way down to Blake. Once she was in the elevator, she fell onto her knees and looked down at her hands. "Is this true? Is this what my life has become? Just a streak of lies?" Yang curled her fingers and dug them into her hair in frustration. She screamed at the top of her lungs, but luckily, no one heard her. "No, you can't do this. You're already so weak. It's time for you to man up." Yang slammed the auto-stop button in the elevator and changed her destination to the science department.

When she got there, she saw everyone running around. It was obvious that they were doing something big. She just didn't know what it was all about. She wandered around until she spotted a worker with the least amount of work in front of him.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes. What can I do for you?"

"Well, my arm has been bothering me ever since I came back from my mission. I was wondering if you had any treatment to heal this up faster."

"Actually we do. I'll show you. Follow me." The man got up from his chair and walked away. Yang followed close behind with her eyes in full scanning mode. After a few seconds, they came a across a huge door that opened up to his specialized key card. He walked in and pulled out a syringe with an interesting colored liquid inside of it. "This is state of the art medicine technology. Just inject it into the injured section of your body and it'll heal in an instance."

"Wow, you guys do some pretty amazing stuff around here."

"Yeah, well, it's our job. Actually, would you mind if I take a look at that arm? It might be easy if I knew what it was that was bothering you."

"No." Yang suddenly stole the syringe from his hands and took a step back. "There's no need for that. I'm sure this will work just fine. Thank you." Without another word, Yang stormed off to the elevator with one more destination in mind.

"Security?" The man who helped out Yang grabbed his radio and checked in. "Bogey just left the science department. I want all eyes and ears on her. Inform Neo as well."

Yang stopped at the locker room to find Blake's clothes. Once that was over, she headed to the elevator one last time and chose to go the basement. On the ride down, she was still struggling on the inside. There was so much that she didn't understand. She still wasn't even sure if Blake was telling the truth. Hearing about Neo was going to kill her definitely affected her in numerous ways, but that doesn't really mean that Blake was telling the truth. There was no proof that those two things correlated. Yang continued to think hard on this until the elevator door opened and revealed the dark hallway of the basement. Yang took a deep breath and walked to Blake's cell.

Once she was there, she opened the door and set Blake's clothes on the ground. Blake didn't really notice Yang's appearance until she pushed Blake's head back and put her hand on Blake's chest.

"Y-Yang, what are you doing?"

"Making a choice." She jammed the syringe into Blake's chest, right where her heart was located. In an instant, Blake felt the rush of healing power that this syringe offered flow throughout her entire body. It only lasted a few seconds until she was back to normal. She looked at Yang who had her head down.

"Yang? Why are you…"

"I made a choice… A choice to trust you." From behind her back, she pulled out a sword and sliced through the chains that were holding Blake's arms and legs. "Put these on quickly." Yang threw Blake's clothes at her.

"What's going on?"

"We're getting out of here."

Blake couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her words finally managed to get through to her. Without wasting anymore time, she put her clothes on and came up behind Yang.

"So what's the plan?"

"There's an emergency tunnel that goes through this hall and leads out to somewhere I don't know. We're taking that and getting the hell out of here."

"Alright." Blake knew that this was now the right time, but she had to do it anyway. "Yang, I'm so sorry." She threw her arms around Yang's body and squeezed her as tight as she could.

"Stop it. We need to get out of here first. Come on." The two of them stepped out of the cell and looked in the direction of the emergency exit. "You ready?"

"Are you?!"

Blake and Yang stopped dead in their tracks as a familiar voice called out to them. They slowly turned around and saw Neo standing there with her wretched sword in her hand.

"Yang, was this supposed to happen?"

"You know Yang? I always knew you would betray Cinder. You just didn't have that quality like I did. Not even our star student Blake here could do what I do."

"Shut up Neo! You have no idea what you're doing. I left because I knew that it was the right thing to do!"

"Hahaha! Don't make me gag. We all know that Cinder will change this world. She has plans and those plans will make us the reigning beings of this world. If you stop this now, I'm sure Cinder will reconsider your position Yang. Aarggghhhh!" Out of nowhere, a knife was thrown into Neo's shoulder which forced her to fall to her knees.

"We need to get out of here now." Yang turned Blake around and pushed her forward. They were running out of time since Neo was already onto them. They ran and ran, but something else happened.

"Aaahhhh!"

"Yang?" Blake turned around to see Yang collapse onto her knees and then onto her stomach. She then saw Neo with her hand forward and her sword jammed into Yang's back. "Yang! No!" She ran over to Yang and tried to hold her in her arms, but Yang wouldn't have it.

"You… You n-need to g-get out of here."

"But I can't leave you here."

"Blake, you need to g-get out now."

I'm not leaving you." Tears were running down her face. "I love you."

"If you love me, you'll leave n-now." Yang tried pushing her away, but Blake was still there in front of her. "Gggoooooo!"

Blake finally looked up and saw Neo slowly inching her way closer to them. She got up and ran the other direction with only one thing in mind.

I'm so sorry Yang.

End of Chapter 34


	35. Chapter 35

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 35

Separated Hearts

Blake kept on running and tried not to look back. Her heart was aching due to the fact that she was forced to leave Yang in such a dire situation. She didn't want to though. She wanted to be there with Yang regardless of what could have happened to them if she stayed. Eventually, Blake found herself in the woods. That's when she finally looked back. She collapsed onto her knees and immediately broke down in tears.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to leave, but you made. Please… Please forgive me. I'm so sorry Yang."

…

Snap! Crack!

"Aaahhhhh!" Yang's arms and legs were chained up in that same room where Blake was being held.

"You forsake my hospitality!" Snap! "You forsake my kindness!" Crack! "You think you'll get away with that?! I don't think so!" Cinder cracked the whip against her back for multiple times over until the blood was flowing out of her back. That's when Cinder turned around to one of her guards and grabbed a syringe out of the box. She popped open the cap and jammed it in her back.

"Guh." Yang tried her hardest to contain her pain, but as the serum inside of the syringe entered her body, everywhere started to heal immediately.

"Don't worry, sweety. I'm not letting you die on my watch. Then things would be too easy." She gripped her whip and continued to snap it against Yang's body. Yang cried out in pain as Cinder's attacks got more and more harsh. However, there wasn't much that she could do. The only thing that was holding her together was Blake.

…

Blake wandered through the forest as quietly as she could. She wasn't sure if there were people following her so she just decided to stick to the shadows. She didn't know where she could go. The only thing that she knew was that it was better to be far away from Cinder's workplace for the time being.

Eventually, day turned to night and Blake was running low on energy. She could barely stay on her feet. Once it was completely dark around her, she collapsed onto the ground, barely able to keep her eyes open. However, before her eyes closed on her, she spotted a figure walking towards her. She looked up, but was unable to figure out who it was. That's when she lost consciousness.

She was out for hours, but when she finally woke up, she opened up her eyes to a dark room. There was a small light from the opening in the door. She could see a figure passing by every so often. She tried getting up, but her body was still a little tired. The rustling of the bed caused the person in the other room to overhear her. They opened the door and popped their head in.

"So you're finally awake?"

"W-Where am I?"

"You're safe. There's nothing to worry about."

"Yang. Yang?! I have to… Ah." She tried sitting up, but a horrible pain erupted from her head which caused her to fall back onto the bed. "What is that?"

"Maybe I should be asking you that question. You had a tracker implanted inside your skull. Apparently, someone wants to find you. You some kind of escaped criminal I should be aware?"

"No, of course not. Who are you? Where am I?"

The person finally walked into the room. They turned on the lights and it was revealed that it was a man with eye shield over his face.

"My name is Adam. And we are far away from that… That woman."

Blake suddenly widened her eyes.

"A… What are you talking about? That woman? You know her? How do you know her?"

"Shh, enough with the questions. I'll get to everything in time. You just need to rest." He walked out and closed the door behind him.

This whole thing was very displeasing for Blake. She wanted to know what was going on around her, but since this little injury was preventing her from doing anything, she felt weak and worthless. The worst part about the whole thing was that she had a feeling that this man knew more than what it seemed. The way he talked was a red flag. She continued to ponder this thought until her mind gave way to another rest for her body.

The next time she woke up, she was feeling a lot better. She managed to get herself out of bed and into the main room where the man was spending most of his time. He spotted her and immediately took action. He got her a glass of water and offered her a seat. She cautiously accepted his hospitality and got right down to business.

"So who are you? I know there's something about you."

"Yeah, I'm not really good with picking my words. I guess I kind of gave it away." He looked at Blake who was clearly demanding an answer to her question. "Well, there's no hiding it after all. I am now one of two people who have managed to escape Cinder's clutches."

Blake was completely speechless. Her intuitions were correct. The only thing left to do was find out more about who this guy was.

"How is that possible? Cinder's… Cinder's… She's psychotic."

"I know."

"So how did you get away?"

"I got out because I wasn't strong enough for her. She threw me out without putting a second thought to it. That was her first mistake. I've been training my whole life to get back to that hellhole and finish that bitch myself."

"She's my mom."

He looked at Blake who had her eyes closed.

"I see. S

"So what's the call?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've already told you my goal. What's your goal? Obviously, someone coming from that place has to have a goal or something."

"Initially, it was to kill Cinder."

"But…"

"But I think that goal belongs to someone else… Someone that I care about… with all of my heart."

"Oh, what's this?"

"My friend… She tried saving me after being Cinder's prisoner, but ended up getting captured in the process. I was the only one to make it out. I just… I left her alone. I could have saved her. Why didn't I save her?!" Tears were rolling down her face as she leaned over and looked at the ground.

"Cinder is just something else. I don't blame you. She's done too much wrong in this world to be forgiven."

"Let's go back." Her head shot back up and looked at him. "You said it yourself. You've trained all of your life to kill her. You can help me get back there."

"Haha, not to get your friend back. What makes her life worth risking your life and my life?"

"Because she saved my life. That's the only thing I can do for her."

Adam leaned back against the wall and pressed his hand against his face. Things were getting difficult for him and having Blake wasn't making things any easier.

"Yes. I planned on going back, but not now. I can tell she's planning something big and I don't want to get involved with her little scheme."

"Her scheme involved the entire world. She plans on having everyone underneath her in any way she can. That's why I have to stop her. That's why we have to stop her. We can't let this world fall any more than it already has. You have to agree with me."

"I haven't been in hiding all of this time just to walk into that building with a predetermined fate of death. Is your life that worthless to you?"

"It is if it means saving her life. She doesn't deserve any of this. She deserves better. If I can give her that better way of life, my life will be complete."

"So what are you saying? You're going back no matter what?"

"I'm going to save her no matter what. My life belongs to her. Will you help me?"

"Is there anything in it for me?"

"I'll do anything you want."

The room was completely silent. Blake was looking at him and he was looking at her. Nothing moved for a good couple of seconds before Adam stormed over to her, pulled her off of the chair, and pinned her against the wall.

"Anything huh? It's been so long since I've touched another girl's body. You could give that to me."

Adam immediately started to lick her on the neck. Blake didn't even fight back. If this was the way to get him to help her, then she didn't care. Adam continued with what he was doing. His hands moved down to her breasts as he lifted up her shirt and started to massage her breasts. He sucked on them and did whatever he wanted to until he wanted more. All that was left was the promise land. He moved his head up once more to look at her and saw that she was in tears. Her eyes were red and she was as vulnerable as a baby. For some reason, this changed something inside of him. He pulled her shirt back down and backed away.

"You really love this person, don't you?"

Blake couldn't answer. She just nodded her head desperately.

"Then this will have to wait for another time. We'll leave in the morning. I'll think of a plan for us. You just get some rest." He turned around and walked out the door.

On the other hand, Blake slid onto the ground and continued to cry her eyes out. She was pushed into a corner with only one thing left to do. She had to save Yang no matter what and that's what she was going to do. Somehow, some way, she was going to make it back to her. That was the only certain thing about it. She didn't know if she could trust this man. She just wanted a way to see Yang again.

End of Chapter 35


	36. Chapter 36

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 36

Taking Back Yesterday

Cinder wiped the blood off of her whip and sharply looked at the broken girl in front of her. Blood was dripping from her body and she was exhausted. Unfortunately, Cinder's miracle serum kept her from dying so suffering like this was the only path Yang was allowed to have.

"I just don't get it. I give you a new life and you just… You just throw it away like that. I'm really disappointed in you, Yang. You had such a bright future." Cinder reached for the box and jammed another syringe into Yang's heart which caused that immediate recovery. "You can answer me that, can't you? Why'd you do it?"

Yang took a few deep breaths as her body returned to normal. Being in this situation really gave her the chance to think over what she's done and it was too hard to think about.

"I… I can't answer that."

"Hm. I see." Cinder turned around and pressed the button that released Yang from her hanging position. The chains dropped and caused her body to fall onto the ground. "I'm done with you today. Hopefully, I'll be able to get something out of you tomorrow… since you won't be dying on me any time soon." Cinder slammed the door and left for the day.

At that moment, Yang burst into tears. All of this time, she had been holding it in. All of her emotions were leaving her body at that exact moment. There wasn't much going on in her brain, but there was so much that she wanted to say; there was a special someone she wanted to see more than anything else.

"Blake… I'm sorry I didn't realize this sooner." Yang lay in her puddle of blood as she reflected on her own life since that was the only thing she could do. "I just wish I could see you one more time." The exhaustion of today's interrogation caused her to close her eyes and turn over for the day.

…

Blake's sleep schedule was so out of whack that when she woke up from her rest, it was nighttime. She climbed out of bed and headed back into the main room where Adam was devising a plan. Her footsteps attracted his attention as he looked up and greeted her.

"Hi."

"Hi. You feeling any better?"

"Yeah, I think so. What are you doing right now?"

"I'm finishing up the final parts of the plan."

"Oh, you didn't have to do that. I could have done that myself."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't want you in charge of that. I know your true goal will get in the way of the entirety of the plan."

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind." He bowed his head and continued to write things down on the piece of paper. After a few seconds, he dropped his pencil and sighed heavily. "You know… I'm really sorry about what I did to you. It wasn't right of me to do that. I did love someone before. I don't know what came over me."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it."

"So I'm guessing you still want to rescue your friend?" He looked at her who nodded her head in complete agreement. "Alright. I guess that seals the deal."

"So what's the plan?"

"Before I get into that, I want to stress something that's very important: I'm only helping you get inside and rescuing your friend. Whatever you decided to do after that, I won't be a part of."

"What? Didn't you say you wanted to kill Cinder?"

"I did. But I put some thought into it and I realized that I'm not the one who should kill her. If what you say about your friend is true, she should be the one who kills her."

"Oh… Okay. Well, how are we going about this?"

"Before I got kicked out of her department, I managed to steal something that seemed pretty important." Adam reached underneath the table and pulled out a weird device. "This is a large-scaled EMP device. It has the capability to knock out an entire building. This is the first phase. Once this goes off, I clear the first floor. This will help getting to your friend a lot smoother. After that, we find your friend and you decide from there. How does that sound?"

Blake was silent. She didn't know how to respond. This guy she didn't even know was putting all of this effort into something that didn't even matter to him.

"Thank you."

"So… Do you agree with the plan?"

"I do."

"Alright. We leave first thing in the morning. I have a small armory in the back of the house if you want to check it out. Make sure you're ready." Adam stood straight up and left the room. Blake watched him leave and waited a few more seconds before checking out his little armory.

When she got there, she wasn't disappointed. It was definitely a small armory. It had 3 assault rifles, 1 handgun, 2 swords, and 1 grenade. She stepped inside of the room and sighed. She took in the air of the room before deciding what to choose. Eventually, she went with the two swords and the handgun. Unfortunately, the gun only had one bullet. This made things difficult, but this was the hand she was dealt so there was really no way she could complain. Once her armory was set, she headed back to the bedroom and quickly realized that she wasn't tired. She had been sleeping for quite some time so she decided to do something else. She went outside and found a nice spot underneath the trees. She looked up and enjoyed the night sky.

"I'm not going to blame myself or anyone else. All I can do now is say that I'm going to bring back Yang no matter what. I made a promise to her and I can't break it." She pressed her hands against her chest and closed her eyes. "Even if she doesn't accept my feelings, I'll know that I did something to help that poor girl. This world is a cruel place and yet, there are those who can make things right. She needs to know that. She needs to know that I'm that kind of person to her. Please let those feelings get across to her."

…

"How much longer are we going to keep this going? That girl is a lost cause."

Cinder had her back turned towards Neo as she looked at the city beneath her.

"Do you remember the choices I gave you a couple days ago?"

"Of course I do."

"Well, I've been thinking. I don't even need Yang anymore. You chose to kill her, but Blake managed to escape before you could. I've come to the conclusion that I don't need either of them. I already have the serum for my perfect soldier. Blake is just another failure. I don't know why it took me this long to realize that."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm giving you the order to kill Yang."

"Right now?"

"Haha, not right now. Let's give her a bit of hope before that worthless life is put to an end."

"I see. Well, your wish is my command."

"In the morning, head to the scientific department and they'll take care of you. I look forward to meeting the new you." Cinder got up from her chair and walked over to Neo. "Soon, I'll be able to call you my equal." She stuck out her hand and Neo firmly gripped it. At that moment, the two of them started to chuckle out loud. Cinder's plan was finally complete and now, the world belonged to her. She was ready to become the ruler of this world.

End of Chapter 36


	37. Chapter 37

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 37

Siege

 **Note:** Here's a special update for you guys. After this, there will be two more chapters. I'm really sad to see this story be finished, but we all have to move on some times. As for this chapter, I hope you all enjoy and be sure to let me know how I did.

When morning came, Blake got ready. Today was her time to make things right. She wasn't going to spend time dwelling on her mistakes. This was her time to fix everything. Shortly after she was ready to go, Adam went over the plan once more to make sure that she knew what she was doing. Once everything was set, they made their way to Cinder's workplace.

On the way there, no words were spoken. Adam didn't have anything to say to her and Blake didn't want to talk. There was only one person she wanted to talk to and that was Yang. When the building was in sight, they set up shop and prepared for the first stage of the plan.

"I'm taking point. Once the device is activated, you'll know and that's when it'll be clear to enter the building."

"What are you going to do then?"

"I'll clear the way in every direction so that your job is easier. Once you find your friend, you make the final decision."

"Okay."

"If there are no more questions, we should get started. You ready?"

"Let's do it."

"Get as close as you can to the building without being spotted. You'll know when it's time to intervene."

Without saying another word, Adam ran off in one direction and Blake went off in another. That's when their plan had finally begun.

…

Adam remained in the shadows as he neared closer to the building. He prepared the device and zoomed past the front door, throwing the device into the middle of the lobby. Once the device hit the ground, a huge wave of jamming signals was sent throughout the building, destroying every electrical hardware inside. People were scrambling around trying to secure the building as well as figuring out a way to return the power back to the building. That's when Adam made his move.

With his shotgun katana in hand, he burst through the front door and eliminated most of the people working in the lobby. Once that floor was clear, he moved on to the upper floors. That's when Blake knew that it was time to step in. She grabbed her sword, unsheathed it, and ran to the building.

Once she got inside, she immediately saw the effectiveness of Adam's ability. Everyone was dead and no one else was around to stop here. She looked around for a way to get down to the basement. She eventually found the stairs, but immediately knew that she had to find something else first. She headed upstairs and then back downstairs to finish the rest of the plan.

When she made it into the basement area, she suddenly grew tense. She could feel the cold and pain of those halls from when she was back here. However, she knew couldn't dwell on those kind of things. She quickly headed to Yang's cell and opened up the door. Right as she walked inside, she saw her completely naked. Her condition didn't look that bad. The bad thing was that there was a large puddle of blood beneath of her feet. Blake was able to conclude that Cinder was purposely keeping her alive. She slashed at the chains and freed Yang's body from the restraints, grabbing onto her body before she could hit the ground.

"Yang. Yang, I'm here. I came back."

Yang's eyes were closed, but after a few seconds, she used every ounce of strength she could to open them up.

"B-Blake?"

"It's me. You don't have worry anymore. I'm came to save you."

Yang slowly reached up to her face and gently touched her cheek. Her hand was cold, but the warmth of Blake's face made her feel that much better.

"Blake?"

Blake grabbed Yang's hand and held it as close as she could.

"Yang, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to leave like that, but…"

"It's okay. I'm just so glad to see you."

A tear rolled down Blake's face, but Yang's finger was there to wipe it away.

"I… I brought your clothes for you. Will you be able to get changed?"

"Y-Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, then I'll leave you alone for a bit." Blake was about to stand up, but was immediately stopped by Yang's hand holding onto hers. She looked into Yang's eyes and could see so much pain and fear. "Yang?"

"Please don't leave me… Not yet."

"Alright… I'll be right here."

For the next couple of minutes, Yang struggled to get her clothes back on while Blake was right behind her. For Blake, this was strange behavior for Yang. Before all of this, Yang didn't seem like much of the dependent type, but because of what has happened to her, it made sense for her to act like this. Blake stayed right by her side to make sure that she was alright. Once she was done changing, she grabbed Blake's shoulders and turned her around. That's when she wrapped her arms around Blake's body and embraced that touch she's been longing for for so long.

"Blake, I've missed you so much."

"I know. I've missed you too."

"You know… I want you to know that I'm terribly sorry about what I did to you. I know you must hate me right now."

Blake let go of her body and looked her in the eyes.

"I would never hate you. Never think like that again. It's my fault for not being there when you needed me." Blake cuddled close and hugged her once more. This moment lasted for a little while longer until the door cracked open to reveal Adam standing just outside.

"Now that this little reunion has happened, I need to hear her decision. We can't stay like this for much longer."

"Decision? Blake, what's he talking about?"

"I met him after I got out. He helped me get in here, but it was under certain conditions. He only came to get me in. I told him about you and what you wanted and that decision will decide if her stays or not."

"I don't remember what you're talking about."

"Cinder… Yang, don't you feel anything about that name? All the things she's done to you… Are you just going to let her get away with it?"

At that moment, Yang finally realized what she was talking about.

"I do remember… But it's kind of hazy."

"Are you going to kill her or am I going to have to kill her?" Adam's voice stepped in violently as Yang looked up at him with confusion.

"Kill her?"

"That woman has done too much to this world for her to remain alive. If you won't kill her than I will."

"Adam actually worked with her before we were even around. He managed to escape, but Cinder didn't see his potential. He's been training all of his life and now, he feels he's ready to end her life."

"Wait! Hold on!" Yang stood up and tried to slow down everything around her. "What are you guys talking about?"

"I told you this already. Cinder has plans to take over the world, and she has the ability to do so. Her power and the people she works with are absolute. They will follow every command she gives them. All she needs is you. You will be the one who does all of the dirty work. That's why you have to kill her. Once she obtains you, you will never be yourself again."

"And why do you think I should be the one to kill her?"

"Because she's the one who brought you into this hellhole. She adopted you because she had an ulterior motive with you. All of that generosity she gave you was just a ruse. She's a fake, doing everything she can to become the ruler of this world."

Yang finally sat back down and put her hands on her head. Her mind was clear, but hearing all of this seemed a little too much for her. As she continued to think to herself, Blake gently put her hand on Yang's shoulder which caused her to look up.

"I believe that you can do it. You're strong, Yang. No matter what happens, I'll have your back."

Yang took a few more seconds before agreeing to follow through with the plan. Yang was going to kill Cinder. That's when Adam bid them farewell. He said nothing more. He just vanished at the sound of his "goodbye."

Blake handed Yang her other sword and the two of them walked to the staircase. On the way there, they went over their plan of action. Cinder was still inside the building so that's where Yang was going to head towards. On the other hand, Blake had to deal with Neo since she was her right hand woman. Unfortunately, that fight would be incredibly tough. Yang insisted that Blake come with her instead of dealing with Neo, but Blake told her that this was the only way. She had to eliminate everyone working here or else the image of Cinder would continue on. Yang wanted to protest this decision, but Blake's mind was already set.

The two of them made it to the halfway point of the stairs and were forced to change stairwells. Right as they exited that stairway, there was a lone person standing in the middle of the hallway. They were short, but had an extremely ominous aura to them. It was Neo.

"Look at this. You managed to break her free… Not like it matters though since you'll be dead in a few minutes anyway."

At that moment, Yang remembered what she heard when Neo and Cinder were talking. Neo had the intention of killing her so things were heating up now.

"Blake, are you sure you can handle her on your own?"

"Of course I can. I'll create an opening and then you make a run for Cinder."

"Alright."

"I love you."

Before Yang could get set to leave, she froze in her tracks as she looked at Blake. Those words, unlike any other words, made her feel so warm.

"I-I love you too."

"Bring it!"

Blake and Yang ran at Neo. Neo kept her ground. As the two of them neared her, Blake dashed towards the girl and swiped at her face. Neo managed to block the attack while Yang slipped by her and headed up the stairs.

"Oh no you don't." Neo pushed Blake's sword off of her and ran towards the stairwell. However, in the blink of an eye, Blake appeared in front of Neo, blocking off the way into the stairwell.

"I'm your enemy. I won't let you get to her."

"Hm, I see. Well then, looks like this is going to be very interesting. I pray that you defeat me because if you don't, you will experience the true meaning of pain."

…

Yang ran up the stairs as fast as she could. Her mind was occupied by Blake and Cinder. She wanted to believe that Blake was going to be alright. She also wanted to believe that Cinder would back down. This change of heart in Yang told her not to kill her unless it was the only choice. However, the thought of killing her seemed more and more relevant as she finally arrived at her door. She slowly walked towards it and opened it up to see Cinder waiting patiently behind her desk.

"I was wondering when you'd show up. I take it you're here to kill me."

"I'm here to…" At that moment, a knife flew by Yang's face. She managed to avoid the full blow, only suffering a minor cut to her cheek.

"Enough talk. Let's end things here, my little prodigy."

End of Chapter 37


	38. Chapter 38

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 38

Fate vs. Luck

 **Note:** Here's the penultimate chapter of the story. The next time I see you guys will be the end. I can't stress enough how thankful I am that you guys are so supportive. I hope you enjoy the update and keep letting me know how I did.

Blake and Neo swung at each other non-stop, but no one was giving each other ground. At first, it seemed like that Blake had a chance to defeat this girl, but she quickly realized that there was something else going on. She didn't seem normal. Her motions were wild and arrogant, completely different from her normal fighting ability. After some time, Blake pushed away to gain some breathing room.

"What the hell is going on around here?"

"What are you talking about? Nothing is going on. Just a special someone trying to make the world theirs. It's as simple as that. Unfortunately, you decided to stand in their way."

"I had to. What Cinder's trying to do is wrong and you know it."

"Haha, don't make me laugh. Oh wait, you just did." Neo dashed towards Blake and slashed her shoulder. Her movement was so fast that Blake was unable to react. She just jumped away to reassess the situation.

"Was she always this fast," she asked under her breath.

"Pay attention, you bitch!" Again, Neo appeared in front of her body and slashed her calf, forcing her to her knees. After that, Neo kneed her in the face and sent her body flying across the room. "You're fucking worthless. I can't believe Cinder once thought you were special. Now, she has me and that's more than enough." She ran towards Blake's body and got on top of her. She wrapped her arm around Blake's neck and started to squeeze as tight as she could. "My initial plan was to play around with you, but I don't want Cinder to have to deal with that low-life blondie."

"Shut up." Blake slammed her head back into Neo's face which broke her grip on her. Blake immediately switched positions with her and got her in an arm bar. She wasted no time and broke her arm. She then kicked her body across the room and took another breather.

For a brief timeframe, Neo's body didn't move which gave Blake a good sense of who the winner was, but eventually, she stood up and stared her down.

"Did you really think an attack like that would finish me off?! Aaahhhh!" Neo grabbed her arm and snapped it back into position. Doing something like that would cause a rip in her skin to occur, but it didn't. That's when Blake realized what she was dealing with. This was Cinder's final serum, and Neo was her test subject.

"I hope you've realized by now that there's no way to beat me." Noe dashed towards her once again and executed the finishing blows. Neo stabbed her in the leg, shoulder, hand, and foot. These blows completely immobilized Blake to the point of falling on the ground and accepting fate.

"H-How?"

"Haha, I'm telling you. Cinder is a miracle worker. If only you stayed, you wouldn't be in this situation. You'd be alive and right by Cinder's side. Instead, you're on the ground, eagerly waiting at hell's doorstep."

"Like hell I am."

Neo turned around to see Blake struggle to make it back onto her feet. It took about a minute or so, but she eventually made it onto her feet.

"Why put yourself through this? I'm trying to make it easy on you, but you're forcing me to take drastic measures." Neo looked over at Blake who raised her sword to fighting position. That's when Neo sighed and decided to end it here. "This is the end." Neo suddenly vanished and reappeared behind Blake. She stabbed her through the heart and watched the blood splurge out of her chest. "There's the end of… Huh?" At that moment, Blake's body faded away as if it was some spectral object.

"There is one way." Blake's body suddenly reappeared behind Neo as she swung her sword at Neo's head and sliced it off. Neo's body quickly lost its strength and collapsed onto the ground. Blake was on the same page as Neo. Her body was giving out underneath her which caused her to fall onto her knees. She didn't have much time left and knew that there was only one thing she could do. She leaned over Neo's dead body and cupped her hands with as much blood from Neo's body as she could. She sipped it and could feel the recovery power of the serum. The taste was absolutely horrible, but she couldn't complain. This was the only way. Thankfully, immortality is impossible. Unfortunately, the blood wasn't sufficient enough. All it did was stop the bleeding. Blake could still feel the pain whenever she moved her body. However, she couldn't let this stop her. She had to get back to Yang. She had to.

With every ounce of strength she could muster, she crawled up the flight of stairs. The pain was unbearable, but Blake had to fight through it. There were worse things than having to deal with this pain. The one she was most afraid of was getting to the top and Yang not being there. However, she couldn't think like that. She had to stay positive and hope that Yang had the situation under control.

Once she made it to the top floor, she tried to return to her feet. It took so long, but somehow, she managed to walk through the hall and into Cinder's office. Right as she entered the room, she saw Cinder's arm wrapped around Yang's neck and a gun pushed against her back.

"My intuition was correct. You managed to kill Neo. Unfortunately, you don't look too good yourself." Suddenly, Cinder shot the back of Yang's left leg.

"Aahhhhh!"

"No!"

"Now Blake, be patient with me. I'm not doing this because I want to. All you have to do is give yourself to me and this girl will be set free."

"Don't do it Blake…"

"Sshhh. I didn't say you could talk." She tightened her hold on Yang's neck to the point where she was unable to talk. "Now, are you going to give me what I want or am I going to have to be the bad guy here?"

"You're already the bad guy! Please stop this!"

"Don't be so ridiculous! I am the purifier. I am the thing this world needs. I am…"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Blake saw the look on Cinder's face and knew that those gunshots were not from her. She looked down and saw Yang's hand pressing the trigger.

"Do it," Yang said softly as her body fell to the floor.

Blake whipped out her gun and shot Cinder in the heart. The impact of the gun pushed her back a step. Cinder felt her chest and saw the blood coming out form the wound. When she looked up, she saw Blake running right at her. Blake jumped into the air and kicked her in the chest. She kicked so hard that her body was sent backwards and crashed into the window. Blake fell to the ground and watched as Cinder's body fall out of the room and towards the city street. She didn't have the strength to watch, but she heard a loud crash as her body landed on top of a car. She took multiple breaths of relief.

"I'm tired of hearing about your fucking plans. It's… It's over."

"Uuhhh."

There wasn't any time to rest. She turned over and crawled towards Yang.

"Yang? Yang, stay with me. You can't do this."

"I'm sorry Blake, but I think it's my time."

"No… No, you can't say things like that. You're going to make it through this. I promise."

"J-Just think about it. A-All of this time, I've been unwanted. My life was a l-lie. Maybe after this, I won't have to worry about things like that."

"Yang, why are you saying these things? There are people that can help you. What about that serum Cinder gave you? It had to be special. Shouldn't it be able to save you?"

"It should have… But Cinder created an a-antibody and used it on me during our fight. I-It's over."

"No, it can't end like this. I love you."

"Blake… I n-never realized it, but you always cared about me. I-It may not have been very subtle, but you cared… And I t-thank you for that."

"You sound like you're leaving me. You can't leave me. I did all of this for you. I wanted you to live on and have a happy life. I wanted you to be surrounded by people you could trust and know that they'll be there for you whenever you needed them. Don't you want that?"

Yang shook her head and put her hand on top of Blake's hand.

"Where I'm going… It doesn't matter."

Blake suddenly gripped Yang's hand and held it as close as she could.

"I'm going to save you. It's not ending like this." Blake picked her up in her arms and headed to the stairwell. Climbing the stairs on her own was already hard enough and now, she had to descend with another person in her arms. Blake was determined to make it out of this horrible place. Yang was not spending her last moments here. She was going to make it to a hospital and she was going to get better. That's what Blake thought and these thoughts kept her going until she finally made it back to the lobby and walked out of the building. "See? We made it." She looked down at Yang, but saw that she didn't respond to her. "Yang? Come on, wake up. This isn't funny." Blake shook her body, but there was still no response. That's when her legs gave out from underneath her. She collapsed while still keeping Yang safe from harm. "Yang, please. Don't go! Yaang!"

End of Chapter 38


	39. Chapter 39

Hearts Disguised

Chapter 39

Life Must Go On

 **Note:** Here it is... The finale to this roller coaster of a story. I just wanted to say thank you guys so much for being supportive of me and this story. You guys are the best and I want you all to know that. Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoy the final update.

Yang slowly opened her eyes and found herself in a blank, white room. She looked around and saw that she was all by herself. That's when she tried to get back on her feet. It was a bit of a struggle, but she eventually got it. She walked around aimlessly and didn't know what to do. She had no idea what was going on or where she was. All that she knew was that this was the place she was talking about when Blake was with her in her final minutes.

"Yang, is that you?"

At that moment, she heard a familiar voice. She slowly turned her head and saw that Ruby was in a white gown walking towards her.

"Ruby, is that… What are you doing here?"

"What are you talking about? This is the place where everyone goes eventually."

"Wait, so you mean…" She looked at Ruby and saw her nodding.

"Now, we can be together forever." Ruby wrapped her arms around Yang's waist and squeezed her as tight as she could. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too." Yang suddenly pushed Ruby off of her body and looked her in the eyes. "Ruby, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. The reason why you're here… Everything… If you're mad, be mad at me. I'm the one who let this happen to you." Yang dropped her head and started to quiver. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't blame yourself. These kind of things happen. There's nothing you could have done."

"But there was. I could have saved you… If I was strong enough, you would have survived and I wouldn't have been in that horrible situation."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't talk about it. It's just too much to think about."

"Hey," she said as she lifted Yang's head. "You don't need to be sad anymore. You're here… with all of us."

"Us?"

"Yeah. Mom and dad are here too. Come on." Ruby grabbed her hand and guided her to where her parents were. The walk wasn't very long, but after a while, Yang saw two people in the distance. "Mom. Dad. Look who's here."

They turned around and saw Yang walking with Ruby. They dropped their things and ran over to her, squeezing her as tight as they could.

"Yang, what are you doing here?"

Yang turned her head and was shy at answering that question.

"What's wrong, sweety?"

"I messed up," she said with a sigh. "I did something really bad and eventually paid the price for it."

"What are you talking about?"

"I just… I made mistakes… I don't want to talk about them."

"But Yang… Why are you here?"

"What do you mean? Isn't this where people go when they die?"

"Yeah, but… Why are you here? How is that even possible? Did someone…"

"Uh… Not necessarily. I took my own life to save someone else." Yang looked at her mom and dad and saw that they were interested in this story. They pulled up a chair and decided to listen in on her little story.

"Please tell us."

"Well, alright. There was this girl that I never really paid attention to, but apparently, she cared about me. I didn't realize it until I made all of those mistakes that got me into that horrible situation. Anyway, I betrayed her and caused her to suffer a lot, and all the while, she remained loyal to me. After some more things happened, I decided to trust her, but that also came at a cost. More things happened and she eventually saved me. We were in a bad situation as it was so we were forced to split up and when we met back up, I was held at gunpoint while she was threatened. There was only one thing I could do and that was to take my life in order to save hers."

"So you don't want to go back?"

"What does that mean? I can't possibly go back."

"Yang, you still have ties to that world, don't you? You don't want to go back?"

"I can't. I want to, but I can't. There's so much that I want to fix, but I can't now. I don't know why I did the things I did. I wanted to do the right thing, but I didn't know what the right thing was at the time. Cinder put horrible ideas into my head while Blake was trying to fix those bad influences and…"

"Yang, calm down." Her mother gripped her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Life is all about mistakes. It's the ability to learn from them and make them right in the future. You understand that, right?"

Yang nodded her head.

"But there's nothing I can do about it now."

"Yes, there is. You just need to be strong. You must believe that there is someone back in that world who needs you. That alone will help you return to where you belong."

"Even if that's true, I don't want to leave you guys. I just reunited with you. I can't just leave. I miss you."

"We're sorry Yang, but this is not where you belong." Her mother touched her chest and suddenly felt a rush of warmth flow through her body. "We miss you too, but you have to live on. This is not the right way to go. Someday, we'll see each other again… Just not anytime soon."

"What are you talking about?"

"Goodbye, my darling."

"Goodbye? No. we can't say goodbye. Mom. Mom!"

…

Yang's eyes slowly cracked open as she found herself lying in a gurney inside a small room. She could hear a constant beeping sound which made her turn her head. It was her life support. She had no idea what it all meant, but she did know that she was alive somehow. She slowly brought up her hand to her face and make sure that it was true. Her face was warm and she could feel the pain that was still protruding within her body.

"Ugh, I feel like crap."

"Oh good, you're awake. You've been in a coma for about three days. How are you feeling?"

Yang didn't respond. The words that he spoke to her seemed as if they were a completely different language. Being out for three days didn't even seem possible. To her, it only felt like a few minutes.

"Coma? A-Are you serious?"

"Yep. Luckily your friend was with you or else you wouldn't have made it."

"Friend?"

"Uh huh." The doctors walked across the room and slid the sheet towards the wall, revealing Blake in the bed next to her. "We've been transfusing blood from her to you and that gave you a better chance at coming back. You should be thankful." He wrote down some things on his clipboard and then looked at Yang. "I'll let you rest a bit before I ask you anything else. Just take it easy. Don't try to do too much right now. Okay?"

Yang nodded her head which gave the doctor the okay to leave. That's when she turned her head to look at Blake. Even though it was difficult to make out how Blake was doing, it looked like Blake went through hell while she was out. Her skin was pale indicating that she was nearing her limit. She tried reaching for her, but she was just too far away.

"B-Blake, are you there?"

There was no response. Yang quickly exhausted herself and closed her eyes. Even though she got to see her parents, there was only one person on her mind and that was Blake.

…

Another couple of hours went by and Yang finally woke up again. She turned her head and quickly noticed that Blake wasn't on the bed next to her. She started to panic. She was starting to lose control of her body as it moved all over the place. Thankfully, there were nursing passing by who were able to calm her down. All the while, she was screaming Blake's name. Once they got her to calm down, the doctor made his way back into her room. He pulled up a chair next to her and tried his best to give off an inviting aura.

"So how are you feeling now?"

"Where's Blake?"

"Don't worry about her. She's fine. She's just going through some rehab right now just across the street. Anyway, about you, I need to run a few minor tests to make sure that if it's okay to get you out of this stupid bed."

Yang sat up from her bed and the doctor made her do some simple things that everyone does after a traumatizing incident. She did the finger thing, pupil thing, and other things to make sure that her body was functioning properly. Her results were where they should be so he asked a few nurses to escort Yang to their rehabilitation center.

It was a long, hard process to get Yang out of bed and through the halls and an even harder task to get her across the street to their rehab center. Her body was weak and she still didn't have full control of everything. Eventually, she finally made it through the doors of the building and saw so many people going through basic motor skill training. Her eyes scanned the room and found the only person she really cared about. Blake was practicing her walk since a lot has happened to her as well.

"Blake?"

Blake raised her head at the sound of Yang's voice.

"Yang?"

"Blake!" Yang let go of her crutches and tried to run to Blake. Unfortunately, her legs immediately gave out from underneath her and caused her to fall to the ground.

"Yang." Blake let go of the bars that she was holding on to and slowly made her way to Yang. She looked at Yang who had tears running down her face. This sight made Blake start to get all teary as well. Once she made it to her, she got on her knees and hugged her as tight as she could.

"Yang, I thought you were dead."

"I thought I was too."

"Are you okay?"

"I don't care. I'm just so glad to see you again."

"Me too."

The two of them remained in each other's embrace for quite some time. They didn't want to break this position; they couldn't. The two of them went through some serious stuff and to be with each other once again was like a blessing from above. They made it.

…

Their rehab was pretty good. They made sure to train together which made their progress a lot faster. Blake was able to recover first since there wasn't as much damage when compared to Yang. However, Yang was determined to heal as quickly as possible so it only took a couple more days before she was ready to return to the outside world.

The first place they went to after being discharged was the police station. While they were in the hospital, the police force did an investigation on Cinder's workplace and discovered it all. It appeared as though Adam did a lot behind the scenes. He made sure the police were able to see everything that made Cinder and anyone working for her guilty as charged. However, this wasn't the reason they were called. It had to do with Blake's relationship to Cinder. Although Cinder was a bad person, she had to make an honest living somehow to hide her secret plan and apparently, she left a lot of money behind. The police told her that it now belonged to her since she was her only blood relation. Blake and Yang were kind of shocked to hear this, but they didn't really complain. The only other thing they had to do was get it approved by the court and they did.

…

After all of the boring stuff was complete, Blake and Yang found a nice, cheap apartment where they settled in. They didn't really know what to do though. They didn't really know what to do with all of that money or their lives so they just sat on the floor and stared at opposite ends of the room.

"So… What now?"

"I don't really know. Nothing seems appropriate for the situation. I mean, we did go through hell so what could we possibly do?"

"I guess you're right." Yang thought long and hard about all of this while she was rehab. What could they do when all of this blew over? She also thought about what her mom said while she was crossing over. She told her to live on. That did sound like a good idea and she was already doing it now. "Hey Blake, I got an idea."

"What is it?"

Yang turned around and looked at Blake.

"How about we start from the very beginning?"

"What do you mean?"

"I want to forget about it all and try to move on. I know it may seem hard to do since I've done so much wrong and we would never actually forget about it, but… I just thought that it would be a good idea. Maybe it'll help us out a bit."

"You know what? That's a great idea." Blake cleared her throat and stuck out her hand. "Hi, my name is Blake Belladonna and it's nice to meet you."

"Haha. Well, my name is Yang Xiao Long and I think I'm in love with you."

"Huh?" Blake was totally caught off guard by this comment. "I thought we were starting over."

"I know, and I think this is the right way to go."

"Don't you think we should start from the very beginning?"

Yang shook her head.

"I missed my chance in the past so I don't want to make that same mistake again. I never realized that the person who cared about me the most was right in front of me. It took all of that to realize it and all the while, you were patient with me. You never forgot about me and you never gave up on me. I want to do this for you because you deserve it."

"Yang, please. You don't have…" Blake's words were cut off as Yang pressed her lips against hers. Blake could feel Yang's warmth through that kiss which made her feel like she was melting. Although the two of them have kissed before, this one just felt so different. It was almost as if Yang was a totally different person, and she definitely was.

"I love you Blake. I want to make sure that you know that."

At that moment, Blake's heart skipped a beat. She suddenly had a flashback to before all of this. She told herself that she would live for Yang no matter what. She wanted to get her feelings across to her even if she didn't acknowledge them, and now, she was accepting them.

"Yang… I don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything. If you need to say anything, I'm sure you'll show it in your actions because you always do. That's how I ended up being with you," she said with a smile. Blake smiled back and hugged as tight as she could.

All this time, Blake never knew that things would end up like this. Cinder was such a towering figure in her life that made thinking positive almost impossible. Thanks to Yang, Blake was able to think positive again. She had Yang and Yang had her. That was all she really needed. Blake never had someone who was by her side so this was a new experience for her. She could trust Yang. She could give her love and receive love back. To Blake, this sounded like the greatest that life could offer her. After all, she deserved it.

…

Yang decided to take a walk to the city cemetery where her family was laid to rest: Her mother, father, and little sister. She got on her knees and laid some flowers on their gravestones.

"Hey guys, I hope you're doing well. Me… I'm alright. A lot has happened so I'm still a little shaky. I'm sure I'll get over it though. I just wanted to let you guys know that I found someone. Mom, you know what I'm talking about. I found the person I'm living for. You guys were totally right. There are good people in this world, and they are incredible people. I wish you could be here with me. You guys would love it. So many things have changed. I've grown up a lot myself so you might not even recognize me. Haha…" Yang wiped away a tear from her face. "I miss you guys so much. There are so many things I want to experience with you guys. I'm still keeping that mentality that these things happened for a reason. After all, you guys never stopped teaching me things, even now. I thank you for that. All I ask for is that you take care of yourselves and please look over me. I'm still young so I'm going to make some pretty dumb decisions. Please guide me to where I need to be… And one more thing… Ruby, you would have hated high school. It was stupid," she said with a smile. "Well, I'm gonna go. I'll come by again sometime. I love you guys." She kissed her hand and touched each one of their gravestones.

A few hours later, Blake visited the same cemetery and made her way over to Yang's family. She paid her respects and got on her knees.

"I promise to watch over your daughter. I don't know if she told you or not, but I'm in love with her. I don't know if this is right by telling you now, but I hope you approve. Yang is an amazing person. She's strong and beautiful. She's the kind of person I wish to be like in the future. You guys would be so proud of her. I just wish I could have met you in person. She talks about you guys all of the time and you seem like a bundle of joy." Blake bowed her head and suddenly ran out of words to say. "Well, it was nice to meet you guys. I'll definitely come by again." She stood up and left with a smile on her face.

Blake and Yang were still incomplete. However, they knew that being together would make them complete because of one very important thing…

They weren't hiding anything from each other. They were honest towards one another, unlike so many people in their lives. Together, they would be able to take on the world if it ever turned on them. Because…

They truly love each other.

The End

 **Ending Note:** Remember as always, please let me know how I did. I'm still taking requests for stories since a new lineup of stories will be coming soon. I know it's repetitive, but thank you so much for spending time to read this story. I wish I could give you all hugs in real life, but since I can't, take this simple virtual hug:)


End file.
